2019-06-24 11:55:00
BRITAIN'S NO CARBON ENERGY
WNN - National Grid, which owns and operates the electricity transmission network in England and Wales, has forecast that, in 2019, more of Britain's power will be generated from zero-carbon sources than from fossil fuels for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.
Coal accounted for 2.5% of electricity generation in January to May this year, down from 30.4% in 2009 as a whole. This compares with 47.9% from nuclear, wind, solar and hydro power, which is up from 22.3% for the whole of 2009. However, coal and gas together covered 46.7% in the first five months of this year and 75.6% in 2009.
"This marks an historic achievement in Britain's journey towards the UK government's target of net-zero emissions by 2050, demonstrating leadership in addressing a global challenge," National Grid said today. "Reaching this landmark tipping point in Britain's clean electricity generation has been achieved following a decade-long revolution in our power sources."
Relic
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said that, today, the country had reached 1976 coal-free hours within six months, beating its previous record, for the whole of 2018, of 1975.5 hours. This means around 5 million tonnes of CO2 have been stripped from the atmosphere as a result of going 1976 hours without coal so far this year, it said.
Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore said: "Coal is fast becoming the fossil of our energy system and it will soon be confined to the history books. To ensure this happens as soon as possible, we have committed to phasing out coal entirely by 2025."
Last week the UK became the first advanced economy to legislate for net-zero emissions, aiming to end its contribution to climate change by 2050. Between 1990 and 2017, the UK reduced its emissions by more than 40% while growing the economy by more than two-thirds, BEIS said.
Nuclear not gas
Although the government's policy to phase out coal in the UK is clear, gas was the biggest single source of electricity generation last year, at 39%. Zero-carbon nuclear power supplied nearly one-fifth of Britain's electricity, but the current fleet of reactor units will be retired by 2030 and Hinkley Point C in Somerset is the only new nuclear power plant under construction.
The UK's Nuclear Industry Association said National Grid's announcement will be "a landmark moment and a huge step on the road to tackling the climate change challenge". Its CEO, Tom Greatrex, added however that achieving the government's net-zero by 2050 target means that every form of low-carbon electricity generation "needs to pull its weight".
In the UK's first ever week without coal-fired power, in May of this year, nuclear supplied over 50% of the UK's domestically generated clean electricity," Greatrex said. "There is a clear and urgent need to replace our aging fleet - which will be all but gone by 2030. With the right commitment in place, our industry can deliver a pipeline of affordable clean power, develop new technologies and create thousands of highly skilled jobs in the process."
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Earlier:
2019, May, 6, 11:47:00
BRITAIN'S NUCLEAR ELECTRICITY
The UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and University of Leicester have generated usable electricity from the chemical element americium in what it believes to be a global first. The achievement is seen as a step towards potential use of americium in so-called space batteries, which may mean future space missions can be powered for up to 400 years.
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2019, April, 22, 08:10:00
BRITAIN'S RENEWABLE 33%
Renewable energy sources generated approximately 33 per cent of Great Britain’s electricity over the first quarter of 2019, according to new figures published by energy consultancy EnAppSys, with wind energy accounting for over 60% of renewable generation.
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2019, April, 1, 10:25:00
BRITAIN'S THERMONUCLEAR ENERGY
WNN - The UK and the European Commission signed a contract extension today for the world’s largest fusion research facility, Joint European Torus (JET). The extension secures at least EUR100 million (USD112 million) in additional inward investment from the EU over the next two years and "brings reassurance" for the more than 500 staff at the site in Culham, near Oxford, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said.
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2018, December, 10, 08:20:00
BRITAIN'S FUSION ENERGY
WNN - The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and First Light Fusion are collaborating on a project to convert fusion reactions into heat to enable clean power production. The 'fusion island' project is to be partly funded by a grant from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
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2018, November, 12, 11:50:00
SMALL BRITAIN'S NUCLEAR
WNN - Advanced Nuclear Technologies - otherwise known as small nuclear or small reactor technologies - encompass a wide range of nuclear reactor technologies under development, BEIS noted. "The common attributes that these technologies share is that they are smaller than conventional nuclear power station reactors and are designed so that much of the plant can be fabricated in a factory environment and transported to site, reducing construction risk and making them less capital-intensive," it said.
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