Coal-free run is a record as lower demand lets renewables rule

BRITAIN has gone two months without burning coal for the first time, as lower electricity demand during lockdown causes an unprecedented reliance on renewable energy.

The milestone was reached at midnight and came after the record was set for the longest coal-free period at the end of April.

The lockdown has seen a drop in electricity demand as factories, shops and offices have halted operations. At some points, demand has fallen to record low levels, paradoxically raising the threat of blackouts because of the risk of the grid becoming overwhelmed by excess power.

That has been coupled with periods of high wind and the sunniest spring on record, making cheap wind and solar power plentiful.

On Apr 9, the National Grid responded by halting production at the country’s last four coal plants. “Yet another record-breaking coal-free run in

Britain highlights the fact that the fuel is simply not needed in a modern energy system,” said Jess Ralston, Analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. “At the same time, the surge in renewable generation and extensive plans to expand the nation’s fleet of cheap and clean energy sources show that there will only be one direction from here.”

The steady decline of coal use since the 1970s, when it made up 40 per cent of the country’s energy mix, has gathered speed in the last decade. As recently as 2012, nearly 20 per cent of the UK’S energy came from coal, dropping to 5 per cent by 2017.

In April, renewables overtook fossil fuels to become the largest source of energy in the country for the first time, thanks in large part to a particularly windy winter.

The coal-free figures do not include Northern Ireland, which is not on the National Grid, but where nearly 45 per cent of electricity comes from renewable sources.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said: “This achievement would once have been unimaginable.”