Britain’s electricity mix was its greenest on record last month as sunny weather and low power demand during lockdown left no need to burn polluting coal.
National Grid said that solar power had provided a record high of 11.5 per cent of electricity generation in May, in what the Met Office has said was the sunniest-ever calendar month.
No coal-fired power plants were used during the entire month, the first time that has happened since Britain began generating electricity from coal in 1882. The “incredible coal-free run” stands at 53 days and counting, National Grid said yesterday.
These factors helped to push the carbon intensity of Britain’s power mix down to a record low of 143g of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour (CO2/kWh) of
