A historic record: for three days the United Kingdom met its electricity demand without resorting to coal, offset also by the increase in renewables.
The mild weather certainly played a part, but for the first time in history the United Kingdom met its electricity demand without resorting to coal-fired power stations for a full 76 hours. Only gas-fired, nuclear and renewables plants were operating. The latter in particular have grown significantly in the British energy mix in recent years, driving the decline of coal.
Historically, coal has been the main source in the UK's electricity mix, but last year the country recorded its first 24 hours without coal since the 19th century.
A new record was then set last week, with 55 hours during which coal plant generators remained switched off. Then came the definitive record of 76 hours on Monday 23 April.
Excluding coal, one third of electricity was produced by gas-fired power stations, one quarter by nuclear and another quarter by wind. The remaining approximately 20 per cent was generated by the Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which was running on biomass during those days, by imports from France and the Netherlands, and by solar energy.
The mild weather of recent days also contributed to eliminating coal-fired electricity generation, dampening energy demand — unlike the previous weeks, when an intense cold snap hit Great Britain, causing electricity consumption to rise and coal output to increase accordingly.
According to forecasts by National Grid, electricity demand next summer will be lower than last year, with a consumption range of between 17 and 33.7 GW. Experts therefore expect to see the 76-hour record broken again, as demand during that period averaged around 35 GW. "The growing renewable capacity in the UK will see these records happen more and more frequently — a clear sign of the progress made over the last ten years in reducing emissions," said Jonathan Marshall, analyst at the Energy and Climate Unit.
The carbon tax, the relatively low price of gas and the growth of renewable sources have dealt a heavy blow to all coal operators. It should also be remembered that the government has set October 2025 as the deadline by which coal-fired power stations must be permanently closed.
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Two power stations are already set to close by the end of 2018, reducing to six the number of coal plants still operating in the United Kingdom, including the Drax facility, which appears intent on abandoning coal ahead of the 2025 target.
