The UK is set to spend its first full day without generating electricity from coal on Friday
Author: Aircon Off Date Posted:26 April 2017
The UK is set to spend its first full day without generating electricity from coal on Friday, the National Grid says.
It said the previous longest continuous period without coal-generation was 19 hours, achieved last May.
It comes after years of moving to less-polluting natural gas and renewables - though demand for power also tends to be lower on Fridays.
Although National Grid said a coal-free day looked likely, it would only know for sure very late on Friday.
Britain opened its first coal-fired power station in 1882 and coal remained a dominant part of the energy mix until the 1990s.
However, its use has fallen in recent years, as plants closed or switched to burning biomass, and it accounted for just 9% of electricity generation in 2016 - down from 23% the year before.
Last year, the UK government said it wanted to phase out Britain's last plants by 2025 as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions.
