National Grid figures recently revealed that 2017 was the ‘greenest year ever’ in terms of electricity generation in the UK. The move towards renewables, with record outputs for solar, wind and hydropower, caused record low levels of carbon pollution. In fact, 13 ‘green’ energy records were set for Britain’s power sector, thanks to the increase in renewable electricity generation and a shift away from coal.

The records set in 2017 included:

• First 24 hour period without coal generation since the Industrial Revolution – 21 April
• Longest period without coal generation (40 hours 35 minutes) – 28-29 October
• Greenest summer ever, with almost 52% of our electricity generation from low carbon sources – 21 June to 22 September
• The lowest amount of carbon produced by electricity production at any one moment (73 gCO2/kWh) – 2 October 
• The largest amount of  electricity produced from renewable sources at any one moment (19.2 GW) –21 March

Findings by MyGrid2017 show that renewable energy sources provided 90% more power than coal plants in 2017. British wind farms produced more electricity than coal plants on more than 75% of days in 2017. However, MyGridGB reported that the UK must now tackle its reliance on gas if it is to meet its emission targets. The daily output of gas was outstripped by wind on just two days in 2017.

It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses during 2018. If you would like to find out if your business could benefit from renewable energy generation, give us a call on 024 7669 8899.

If you want to find out what the other records were you can find them here.