For the first time in its history, Great Britain’s power grid has been operated for a whole fortnight without any domestic coal generation, the electricity system operator (ESO) has announced.
The latest coal-free run, which is still ongoing, passed the two-week mark at 3.12pm today (31 May).
It is little more than a year since the electricity system saw its first coal-free day and less than a month since it saw its first coal-free week. The previous record, set on 9 May, eventually topped out at more than 193 hours.
“As more and more renewables come onto the system, we’re seeing things progress at an astonishing rate,” said ESO director Fintan Slye.
“We also broke our solar record for Great Britain this month – with one day seeing over a quarter of the country powered by the sun.”
He added: “As we predicted when we first broke the record for a week of no coal generation at the start of the month, events such as today’s will become the new normal. As we move towards 2025, we believe that we will be able to operate Great Britain’s electricity system with zero carbon generation.”
Interim energy and clean growth minister Chris Skidmore said: “We are continuing to reap the rewards of investing in our thriving renewables sector. The UK has the largest offshore wind capacity on the planet, can generate more than a quarter of our electricity needs from the sun and last year more than half of our electricity came from low-carbon sources.
“Through our modern industrial strategy we’ll continue to seize the opportunities of moving to a greener, cleaner energy system as we aim to become the first major economy to legislate for a net zero emissions economy and bid to host pivotal climate talks in 2020.”
A number of Britain’s coal plants have closed in recent years, including Longannet, Ferrybridge, Rugeley and Eggborough.
Six now remain – Drax, Cottam, West Burton, Aberthaw B, Fiddler’s Ferry and Ratcliffe – with a combined operational capacity of more than 10GW. SSE closed one of the four units at Fiddler’s Ferry in March.
The government has pledged to phase out all unabated coal generation by 2025.