National Grid confirmed that Britain had gone a full 24-hour cycle without using coal to produce any of the country's…
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National Grid confirmed that Britain had gone a full 24-hour cycle without using coal to produce any of the country's electricity, media reports said.
All electricity produced until late night on April 21 was generated from a mix of sources, but mainly gas-fired and nuclear powered generating stations. Wind, biomass and imported energy were also used on April 21, Xinhua news agency reported.
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National Grid's Cordi O'Hara said: "To have the first working day without coal since the start of the industrial revolution is a watershed moment in how our energy system is changing.
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"Britain benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of electricity. Our energy mix continues to change and National Grid adapts system operation to embrace these changes."
The 24-hour cycle started on April 20 when a coal-fired power plant at West Burton went offline.
"The 24-hour cycle was confirmed at 22.50 hours on Friday, after which we started to use coal-fired generation again. We can't (tell) when this new record will be broken," O'Hara said.
Earlier this week, a new record was set on April 20, when Britain went for 19 hours without using any coal-fired generation of electricity.
Britain's first public coal fire power plant opened in London in 1882 and since then coal has played a daily part in generating the country's electricity.
The British government aims to phase out Britain's last coal-fired power stations by 2025 in its program to cut carbon emissions.
In 2015, almost a quarter of Britain's electricity was supplied from coal-fired plants, but in 2016 this had dropped to just under 10 percent as more of the older coal-fired stations closed.
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