Blog Post
The UK Goes Coal Free for a Month as Electricity Demand Fell
Richard Simmonds • May 12, 2020
The UK has gone coal free for an entire month for the first time since records began as demand for electricity plummeted to a near record low because of the covid-19 lockdown.
Coal free set to continue?
According to the National Grid, the run of no coal
use is set to continue over the next few days thanks to a forecast for blustery and sunny weather.
Energy supplier Drax meanwhile said that low carbon sources have been providing as much as 70% of the UK’s power during the coal free month.
Gas power plants made the biggest contribution by producing 30% of the energy mix and nuclear
provided 21%. Wind
power meanwhile contributed 18%, biomass 9% and solar 8%. The rest was provided by hydropower
and imports.
However, following the government’s recent announcements regarding a slight softening of the lockdown more businesses are set to reopen which could see an increase in demand for energy and prompt the need for coal power stations to resume production.
Green Tariffs playing a role?
The drive towards renewable energy dominated the headlines and government policy prior to the Covid-19 crisis and as a result, several energy suppliers have attracted new customers by offering green tariffs.
Challenger brands such as Bulb and Octopus have made renewable energy a key pillar of their business strategies with great success. Both companies have seen their customer base grow strongly over the past few years.
As more and more people become aware of environmental issues demand for such tariffs is set to grow.
Record low demand
Early on Sunday morning, demand for electricity across the UK fell to 15.347GW, a 12.3% decline on last year’s minimum demand and came close to hitting a record low.
There had been concerns that the Bank Holiday weekend would result in issues for the National Grid and potentially lead to blackouts.
Whilst very low, the National Grid said that demand did not fall below the 14.4GW forecasted.
On May 1, regulator Ofgem approved an emergency grid code amendment allowing National Grid to disconnect small generators as a last-resort action to preserve system security.
“No emergency instructions were issued, but we are checking to see if this was a record low for demand. It was very similar to that of the bank holiday Easter weekend. Demand was not as low as forecast, this was possible because of the pick-up in wind generation was slightly later than predicted,” said a National Grid spokesman.
Due to the sharp fall in energy demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic, global carbon dioxide was reported to have declined by as much as 8% when compared to the previous year.
Further Reading
The importance of being a DCC user for Energy Suppliers
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Through our energy market consultancy services, and the software we’ve developed, we’re supporting new UK electricity and gas suppliers get set up and start supplying.
For more information on how to start and manage an energy company, get in touch
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