For first time in 135 years, Britain set to go without coal power for whole day
BrITAIN yesterday looked set to go a whole day without using electricity made with coal – for the first time since the Victorian era.
Barring an energy emergency late last night, it marked the first full day without coal-fired energy since the first coal power station opened in 1882.
The nation was instead powered by electricity from gas, nuclear energy, wind, water and biomass.
Campaigners hailed it as a milestone in the UK’s efforts to stop using coal-fired power plants altogether by 2025, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
Hannah Martin, from Greenpeace UK, said: ‘The first day without coal in Britain since the Industrial revolution marks a watershed in the energy transition. A decade ago, a day without coal would have been unimaginable and in ten years’ time our energy system will have radically transformed again.
‘It is a clear message to any new government that they should pri- oritise making the UK a world leader in clean, green technology.’
The West Burton A coal power station was the last to be switched off the National Grid at 10.50pm on Thursday.
As the Mail went to press yesterday, the National Grid said it had no plans to switch any back on – barring a major failure with other plants. Cordi O’Hara, of the National Grid, said: ‘The UK benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of electricity. Our energy mix continues to change.’ But she added: ‘It’s important to remember coal is still an important source of energy as we transition to a low carbon system.’ The world’s first coal-fired power station kick-started an economic revolution when it opened in Holborn, London, in 1882. Coal was used to generate around 95 per cent of the UK’s electricity until the early 1950s but has since been partly replaced by gas and renewables. In 2016 it made up about 9 per cent of UK electricity generation and over the last four weeks it has supplied only around 2 per cent.
In the last month around 50 per cent of UK electricity has come from low-carbon sources such as nuclear, solar and wind, while 45 per cent came from gas, and the rest from imports and coal.
Coal use started to be cut completely from April last year.
Dr Simon Evans, of the website Carbon Brief, said: ‘Symbolically it is hugely important. The UK was the first country in the world to have a coal-fired public electricity generation system.
‘Now we are getting to the stage where the UK is one of the first major industrialised economies to be getting towards stopping using coal.’
Engineer and energy expert Dr Andrew Crossland said: ‘I think it’s a real demonstration that we can keep the lights on without coal, which is really important. It shows that renewables can make such a big contribution.’
But Dr Crossland said attention must also shift to using less gas.
‘If we continue to run the system with this much gas we will miss the carbon targets,’ he said.