Solar Beats Out Coal In UK

8 years ago Joshua S Hill 9 Comments
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

New analysis from Carbon Brief has solar power in the UK beating out coal in May 2016 for the first time ever.

According to Carbon Brief, based on figures provided by Sheffield Solar, solar power in the UK generated an estimated 1,336 GWh of electricity in May, while coal only generated 893 GWh. May’s stunning achievement comes hot on the heels of Carbon Brief‘s earlier analysis that solar in the UK topped coal during a single day for the first time in April, followed by beating it for a full week.

chart
Total electricity generation from UK solar and coal during the calendar months April and May 2016, in gigawatt hours (GWh). Sources: Sheffield Solar and Gridwatch. Chart by Carbon Brief.

During May, solar generated approximately 6% of the UK’s electricity needs, while coal only generated 4%. This might seem a small victory, until you take into account that in January, those figures respectively were 1% and 17%.

chart (1)
Shares of total UK electricity generation met by solar and coal during January to May 2016 (%). Sources: Sheffield Solar and Gridwatch. Chart by Carbon Brief.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica.TV Videos

Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

CleanTechnica's Comment Policy

Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

Joshua S Hill has 4403 posts and counting. See all posts by Joshua S Hill