So far this year,
renewables have
generated more
UK electric power
than all fossil fuels
combined.
Renewables were
responsible for 37%
of electricity supplied
to the network versus
35% for fossil fuels.
Nuclear accounted for
about 18%, and imports
for the remaining 10%,
according to figures
from the online
environmental
journal, Carbon Brief.
"So far this year
renewables
have generated
more electricity
than fossil fuels
and that’s never
happened before",
says Dr Simon Evans
of Carbon Brief.
A decade ago
about 40%
of UKs electricity
came from coal.
The BBC should have
emphasized that the
coronavirus has
significantly cut
electricity demand.
The National Grid
responded by taking
power plants
off the network.
The four remaining
coal-fired plants
were among the first
to be shut down.
The last coal plant
came off the system
at midnight on April 9.
No coal has been burnt
for electricity since.
The previous coal-free
period record was18 days,
6 hours and 10 minutes
in June 2019.
The figures apply
to Britain only, as
Northern Ireland
is not on the
National Grid.
The BBC forget to mention
Britain doesn't primarily
burn coal for electricity,
but burns coal in back-up
power plants, only
occasionally used
for grid stabilization.
Those coal power stations
will still be burning coal,
on hot standby, just in case
the so called renewable
power drops.
Coal furnaces can’t be
switched on and off.
It can take days
to get them up
to heat if they
are allowed to cool.
The BBC forgot to mention
electricity imported from
Europe is partially coal fired,
so Britain was NOT really
"coal free" in the past
two months.
Britain has the ability
to import electricity
from Northern Ireland
- Moyle Interconnector,
Republic of Ireland
– East West Inter-connector,
The Netherlands – BritNed,
France IFA1 and
Belgium Nemolink.
Later this year the
ElecLink from France
(via the Channel Tunnel)
and IFA2 will also
come online.
Both Irish connections
and the Dutch one export
electricity with, at times,
a high proportion
of coal generation.
You can follow
real time data
on this link
BBC = Biased Broadcasting Company
That Britain does not need
to use the coal that used to be
the backbone of the grid
means there has been
a massive investment
in renewable energy
over the last decade.
A decade ago just 3%
of the country’s electricity
came from wind and solar.
Currently wind power
is supplying just 2%
of demand.
In contrast, gas, nuclear
and biomass (wood)
are providing 75%.
In one unusually
windy week,
wind power peaked
at around 40%,
but natural gas
has still provided
the vital role
of balancing
the grid, never
dropping much
below 20%.
