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U.K. Sets Record for Life Without Coal

U.K. to quit burning coal for power entirely by 2025. The policy ambition has seen its emissions tumble to pre-industrial levels.

U.K. Sets Record for Life Without Coal
Automobiles create light trials as they pass at dusk in City of London, U.K. (Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. has gone more than five days without burning coal, the longest streak the country has managed without burning the fuel since the Industrial Revolution.

Great Britain was an early adopter of renewable energy and has more offshore wind turbines installed than any other country. It also has fields of solar panels that are meeting more and more demand as old traditional power plants close permanently.

The nation will quit burning coal for power entirely by 2025 and the policy ambition has seen the country’s emissions tumble to pre-industrial levels. Coal’s portion of the power generation mix has dropped from 40 percent just six years ago to 5 percent last year.

U.K. Sets Record for Life Without Coal

No coal has been used for power generation by stations in the U.K. since about 1 p.m. in London on May 1, according to grid data on Bloomberg. The previous record from earlier this year was 90 hours. Other sources have stepped in and on Saturday, wind generated as much as 27 percent of the country’s power followed by gas at 25 percent and nuclear at 24 percent.

“As more and more renewables come onto our energy system, coal-free runs like this are going to increasingly seem like the new normal,” National Grid said. “We believe that by 2025 we will be able to fully operate Great Britain’s electricity system with zero carbon.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Lars Paulsson, Andrew Reierson

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.