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[DBT85]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40058074

A record amount of solar power was generated on Friday as Britain basked in sunshine and temperatures of up to 28C, the National Grid has said.

It said 8.7 gigawatts (GW) had been generated at lunchtime, representing 24.3% of total generation across the UK.

The level tops the previous record of 8.48GW set on 10 May.

Alongside the contribution from solar, 23% of power came from nuclear sources, 30% from natural gas and just 1.4% from coal.

In April, Britain went a full day without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since the 1880s.

The government hopes to close all coal-fired power plants by 2025 and coal accounted for just 9% of electricity generation in 2016 - down from 23% the year before.

Progress, not as fast as I'd like but progress none the less. Nice to see that coal number dropping like a brick between 2015 and 2016 too.

Hopefully over the next decade or so we get some from the new Swansea Tidal Lagoon and others like it around the UK. Free power all the time we have a moon.
http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/. Construction starts in 2018, first power will be 2021 and it should be finished by 2022.

The 320MW pathfinder project provides a scalable blueprint for our programme, opening up the option of a fleet of larger UK tidal lagoons to generate renewable electricity at a scale and low cost not seen before.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Good stuff. Let's get some more wind turbines built too. I always think they're beautiful, in a sciencey-impressive way.