The U.K. recently went for 55 hours without using coal power

A boat passes between wind turbines near London (Source: Bloomberg)

Coal, which fueled the world’s biggest economies for more than a century, is increasingly losing out to renewables. For example, no coal was used for power generation by stations in the U.K. between 10:25 p.m. (GMT) on Monday 16 until 5:10 a.m. on Thursday 18 April 2018, according to grid data compiled by Bloomberg.

At that time most of the power came from wind (33.7%) and gas (28.7%). Low-carbon sources, which include nuclear and hydropower with renewables, at times generated 60 percent of U.K.’s power.

The U.K. was an early adopter of renewable energy and has more offshore wind turbines [at least 30] installed than any other country. It also has fields of solar panels that are meeting more and more demand as old traditional power plants close permanently. The government aims to switch off all coal plants by 2025 and has given renewables priority access to the grid.

Read more:
The U.K. just went 55 hours without using coal for the first time in history. Bloomberg, April 19, 2018.
The UK just went 55 hours without using coal for power. GreenMatters, April 20, 2018.