Britain to use more clean power than fossil fuels for the first time in 2019

Britain is on track to use more electricity from zero-carbon sources such as wind, solar and nuclear than from fossil fuel plants this year, the country's National Grid said. Key points: Last week Britain became the first G7 country to commit to net-zero commissions by 2050 The successful transition has been largely due to a huge increase in Britain's wind power capacity It plans to phase out all coal-fired power generation by 2025 The United Kingdom was home to the world's first coal-fuelled power plant in the 1880s, and coal was its dominant electricity source and a major economic driver for the next century. Data from the National Grid shows low-carbon power generation contributed around 48 per cent of Britain's electricity in the first five months of 2019 while fossil fuels such as coal and gas-fired plants contributed around 47 per cent. The transition has been largely due to a huge increase in Britain's wind power capacity, with wind contributing almost a fifth of the country's power in the first five months of 2019, up from just 1 per cent in 2009.