At midnight on Wednesday 10th June, Britain will have gone two whole months without burning coal to generate power, which is a very significant landmark. 10 years ago 40% of Britain’s electricity came from coal, so this is certainly a long way to come in a short space of time.
Whilst Coronavirus has paid a part in this, due to electricity demands plummeting when Britain went into lock down, it is not the complete story. In a response to this plummet, the National Grid responded by taking power plants off the network. With only four coal-fires plants remaining, they were the first to be shut down, with the last coal generator coming off the system at midnight on 9th April.
“The current coal-free period smashes the previous record of 18 days, 6 hours and 10 minutes which was set in June last year.”
We blogged about the previous record, which you can read about here: Coal Free Runs to be the New Norm.
10 years ago just 3% of the country’s electricity came from wind and solar. Now the UK has the biggest offshore wind industry in the world, as well as the largest single wind farm, completed off the coast of Yorkshire last year. So far in 2020 more power has been generated from renewables than all fossil fuels put together. Renewable sources have provided 37% of all electricity supplied, whereas fossil fuels equates to 35%.
"So far this year renewables have generated more electricity than fossil fuels and that's never happened before", says Dr Simon Evans of Carbon Brief.
"With gas also in decline, there's a real chance that renewables will overtake fossil fuels in 2020 as a whole."
The role of fossil fuels in general, including coal, will continue declining. The remaining 3 coal plants are due to be shut down within the next 5 years.
What Does This Mean For Heat Pumps?
Heat pumps use electricity. This means that the cleaner electricity becomes, the cleaner heat pumps become. But heat pumps are more than just a vector for electricity to heat homes. Heat pumps utilise stored solar energy in the ground or in the air, and harness this energy to provide heating and hot water in your home. Heat pumps are therefore the most efficient way to use electricity to provide heat to the home, because for every unit of electricity consumed, between 3 and 4 units of useful heat energy and delivered.
Get in touch with our team of experts today to find out how much money heat pumps could save you on your heating bills, at the same time as drastically reducing your carbon footprint.