Greenest Electricity System Over Easter in the UK
Great Britain Was Able to Produce Highest Amount of Energy by Wind on February 13, 2021
According to the operators of Great Britain, the region was able to experience its greenest electricity system on Easter Bank Holiday Monday at lunchtime. The weather was windy and sunny, along with a reduced amount for the demand of power consumption, lead to a rise in the number of resources of renewable energy, according to the operator of the National Grid Electricity System.
This means that around 80% of the power source of Britain is made from low-carbon sources of energy, thus making it possible for the country to have the greenest electricity system. On the grid at the time when the United Kingdom was able to have the greenest electricity system on the planet, there has been no coal generation, and only 10% of power was being taken from the gas plants located in the country on Monday after Easter in the UK.
Report by National Grid ESO
The National Grid Electricity System Operator has also reported that the levels of pollution caused by carbon emission for each of the units which are being consumed throughout the country dropped down to only 39 grams of carbon dioxide, which is the lowest amount ever recorded by the grid and making it the greenest electricity system, at the exact time of 13:00 BST on April 5, 2021.
The power from wind energy has taken up 39% of the entire energy mix, while solar energy is present around 21%, and nuclear energy accounts for 16% of the total amount of power production.
Biomass burning has been accounted for about 4%, although there is a continuing debate regarding the cost on the surrounding environment by burning of biomass, including wood. However, the National Grid Electricity System Operator characterizes it as a separate entity from both fossil fuels and low-carbon sources.
In comparison with the data collected on Monday during the time of the greenest electricity system in the United Kingdom, the reported statistics on Tuesday showed that almost 24.8% of the energy utilized across Britain had been gained from fossil fuel, in which most of the material used was gas; meanwhile, the renewable energy sources utilized that day accounts for 45.2% of the entire energy mix.
In the past few months of this year, the figures for utilization of fossil fuels across the United Kingdom for energy sources have been decreasing. In the month of January, 43% of the total energy mix was accumulated by gas, with coal utilization at 5%. In comparison with the data collected last month from the National Grid revealed that only 37% of the electricity being used across Great Britain had been generated through gas, which also helped in making the region the greenest electricity system throughout the globe.
Energy consumption during nationwide lockdown state
The previous record for the greenest electricity system by Great Britain was set during the onset of nationwide lockdown due to the rise in transmission of coronavirus pandemic in the previous year, on May 24.
At the time when the entire United Kingdom was forced into lockdown, the demand for electricity across the region plummeted, and the response by the National Grid was by taking off some of the power plants from the network, and the remainder four plants powered by coal were some of the first few to be shut down by the country, which facilitated them to achieve the label of the greenest electricity system.
In the past year amid the coronavirus pandemic, several of the records regarding the energy mix of Great Britain has been broken, out of which the most highlighted one is when the entire region was able to experience a consecutive 68 days coal-free run between the time period of April 10 to June 16, and the solar power provided more than one-third of the electrical supplies on several of the occasion during the month of May.
The Christmas day in the year 2020 was also the first every Christmas holiday with coal-free energy sources being utilized throughout the United Kingdom, which consequently made the country one of the countries to have the greenest electricity system across the world.
Meanwhile, the highest quantity of energy produced by the wind was made on February 13 this year. These latest recorded quantities by the National Grid ESO is an example regarding the transformation observed by the grid at an astonishing rate, as the country is trying to move away from the generation of energy by fossil fuel and trying to harness and grow the renewable power resources throughout the Greta Britain.
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