Thursday 19 April 2018

Britain has been powered for record 55 hours without coal

Britain has been powered for record 55 hours without coal

Britain has gone a record amount of time without using coal to generate electricity.

National Grid Control Room said there was no coal-fired production between 10.25pm on Monday,16th April and 5.20am today, i.e. more than two days.

The previous record of the 40-hour coal-free period was between 28th and 30th October 2017.

At 10am this morning, coal-fired power stations were generating 0.3GW – or 0.7% of national demand – and gas units were contributing 17.5GW or 46.3%.

At around 10.30am, nuclear plants were providing 18.1% electricity, solar 14.3%, wind 7% and 6.7% was imported.

Fintan Slye, Director of UK System Operations at National Grid said: “The UK benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of electricity and our energy mix continues to change. National Grid adapts system operation to embrace these changes.

“However, it’s important to remember coal is still an important source of energy as we transition to a low carbon system.”

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

Trending Articles