LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - The UK is set to mark two months in a row without using electricity from coal fired power stations for the first time on Wednesday since the industrial revolution, the latest data from National Grid revealed.
"The exact two month mark is midnight tonight (00:00 on Wednesday 10 June), which will mark 61 days (or 1,464 hours) since the last coal generator came off the system," a spokesman for National Grid's ESO (Electricity System Operator) said via email on Tuesday.

Coal plants emit almost double the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) as gas-fired power plants and with the new green measures implemented by the government, most coal plants are set to close by 2024 to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Recently prices of renewable energy have fallen and there has been a weaker demand in general due to closures of factories and industries amid lockdown. This has meant that along with the levies on carbon emissions it is becoming increasingly unprofitable to run coal plants.

Use of renewable power soared over the lockdown period and May was the greenest ever month for electricity production in the UK.

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