UK goes coal-free for 18 days with help from solar power

The UK has reached its longest coal-free period since pre-industrial times with the help of solar power plants, which have generated over 1 TWh of electricity since April 10, 2020.

Coal power generation, which the UK government has committed to phase out by 2024, have been offline since midnight on that date, the Solar Trade Association (STA) said on Tuesday.

During the period since then, the UK managed to beat its all-time peak solar power generation record. As previously announced, this happened at around 1230 local time on April 20, when a peak of 9.68 GW was reached. The weekly solar power production record was 485.41 GWh.

According to the STA, last week’s bumper generation levels have delivered more than 11% of the electricity demand in the UK.

Chris Hewett, CEO of the association, believes that the government has to focus on renewables when preparing a recovery package to kick-start the economy following the COVID-19 crisis.

“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,” he stated.

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