It was a historic moment — the first time the UK’s electricity was supplied without burning any coal. The milestone was passed last week — on seven separate occasions, in fact — when Britain was powered without recourse to coal for the first time since the country’s first steam-driven public power station opened in 1882. From Monday May 9 to the following Sunday lunchtime, the UK was at “zero coal” almost one-third of the time. Falling power prices have made it increasingly uneconomical to run coal-fired power stations, especially when high winds or sunshine boost renewable generators. In the past 25 years cheap and abundant gas has supplanted coal as the most significant form of thermal generation, while renewables have provided additional electricity. Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford university, said: “Since 1990 three things have happened: nuclear has made no progress, gas has become a big fuel source and renewables have come along.” In the longer term, with concerns mounting about whether a new nuclear plant will be built at Hinkley Point by 2025 as planned, some are suggesting the Grid might need to do more to encourage coal operators to stay online. Peter Atherton, an analyst at Jefferies, said: “The UK government wants to phase coal generation out by 2025. But looking at the situation today, the bigger challenge will be keeping coal plants on the system to protect security of supply.”
FT 16th May 2016 read more »