Coal power has been offline since Friday, 10 April, 2020, and since then the UK has seen more than a terawatt hour of solar power put into the grid – enough to boil water for over 25 billion cups of tea or drive 6.7 billion kilometres in a Nissan Leaf.
STA Chief Executive Chris Hewett said: “Solar is playing a critical role in delivering a fossil-free grid and cleaner, cheaper power to Britain. As we look towards a net zero future, solar will become an increasingly greater part of the energy mix, tackling high power prices, climate change, and biodiversity loss.”
Provide quality green jobs
“With the Government beginning to consider how best to kick-start the economy following the Covid-19 crisis, it has a golden opportunity to place renewables at the heart of its recovery package. Solar in particular can provide a glut of quality green jobs and growth at short notice, with your average solar park able to be built in less than six months, and home installation in less than a day. The industry is ready to help drive the revival.”
Last week’s bumper generation levels delivered over 11 per cent of the UK electricity demand and set both a new daily peak generation record of 9.68 gigawatts at 12:30 on Monday, 20 April, 2020, and weekly generation record at 485.41 gigawatt hours. Clear skies and cool temperatures in recent weeks have provided optimal conditions for solar efficiency.
Phase out coal by 2024
As part of a planned phase-out, use of coal for electricity generation has fallen sharply in recent years, from 70 per cent in 1990 to only 2.3 per cent in the past 12 months. Over the past 28 days it has accounted for only 0.7 per cent of UK power, compared to more than 57 per cent from low-carbon sources. The UK Government has committed to phasing this high-carbon fuel out by 2024. (mfo)
