Over July, August and September of this year the UK's solar, biomass, wind and hydro installations generated more electricity than fossil fuels for the first time in the history of the country's grid, new analysis from Carbon Brief revealed today.
The website reports that renewables generated 29.6TWh of clean electricity in the third quarter of the year, compared with 29.1TWh from fossil fuels.
It is the first time renewables have produced more electricity than fossil fuels since records began in 1882, Carbon Brief points out.
Much of the success is down to a dramatic expansion in wind and solar power across the UK, alongside a rapid decline of coal power on the grid. Coal now provides around two per cent of electricity in the UK compared to 40 per cent just a few years ago, with gas now delivering the vast majority of fossil fuel power.
The decline of coal was underscored this weekend by the demolition of the cooling towers at Ferrybridge power station in West Yorkshire. The site had produced electricity for 50 years, until owners SSE closed it in 2016. The government has promised to end all coal-fired electricity generation in the UK by 2025.
Today's news looks set to confirm predictions made by National Grid earlier this year that zero carbon power - renewables plus nuclear - will outstrip fossil fuels on the British grid for the first time this year.
Carbon Brief added that it is a question of 'when' rather than 'if' renewables can out-generate fossil fuels over an entire year. However, it warned that the ongoing failure to decarbonise other parts of the UK economy puts the country off-track to meeting its net zero emissions goal for 2050.
