{"id":39337,"date":"2020-04-29T08:33:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T22:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=39337"},"modified":"2024-09-05T09:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T23:54:22","slug":"britain-coal-free-mb1504","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/britain-coal-free-mb1504\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain Breaks Coal-Free Electricity Record"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Coal-free

Image: Glyn Drury<\/a>, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

The impacts of COVID-19 and increasing renewable energy capacity have seen Britain achieve a new record period free of coal-fired electricity generation. <\/p>\n

Around mid-afternoon yesterday in Australia, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Britain’s done it! It’s a new record for the longest period of #coalfree #electricity generation in this country. 18 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and counting.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The new record is still being set. Around 5.30AM this morning Adelaide time, UK_Coal tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“GB Grid: #Coal is generating 0.00GW (0.00%) out of 32.02GW. Continuous time without coal: 18 days 21 hours”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Solar power has had an important part in this event, with an all-time peak generation record of 9.68GW set in Great Britain at 12:30 on Monday 20 April 2020 (local time) . The University of Sheffield Solar Tracker<\/a> notes just over 13GW of solar capacity is installed in GB.<\/p>\n

“Solar is playing a critical role in delivering a fossil-free grid and cleaner, cheaper power to Britain,” said<\/a> Solar Trade Association (STA) Chief Executive Chris Hewett. “As we look towards a net zero future, solar will become an increasingly greater part of the energy mix, tackling high power prices, climate change, and biodiversity loss.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Hewett noted solar power also achieved a weekly generation record last week of 485.41GWh, attributed to ideal weather conditions and lower levels of pollution. The STA says more than 1 terawatt-hour of solar energy has been put into the grid since April 10.<\/p>\n

UK_Coal usually produces a breakdown of sources and their shares after a new record is set, so it will be interesting to see how those numbers look. While Britain does import some electricity, as far as I know that is from sources including wind and nuclear energy, not coal.<\/p>\n

The previous record for coal-free electricity was set in June last year<\/a>. Britain achieved its first 100+ hours without coal-fired electricity generation in May 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Towards A UK Entirely Free Of Coal Power<\/h2>\n

It won’t be long before Britain and the United Kingdom’s electricity system will be entirely coal-free. There are now only four operational coal-fired power stations in the UK – those facilities are, along with their intended closure dates (source: Wikipedia<\/a>):<\/p>\n