On April 21st, 2017, Queen celebrates her 91 birthday, it's a cool day in UK. Among many gifts, however, is one from which it will be learned from news only later: for first time in 125 years, on that Friday, no single kilowatt-hour of electricity was generated by burning of coal. And that in morland of industrialisation.
At end of 2017, share of coal electricity at British mix had fallen to a historical low of seven percent, while coal still contributes a good 40 percent to German mix. The UK has thus halved CO ₂ emissions from its electricity generation within five years – a reduction that Germany can only dream of. What happened?
Did British not sleep energy revolution for years? While German renewable Energy Law from 2000 was soon copied from countries around world, Britain was putting on a different conveyor system that had long no fruit. In year 2011, renewable energy on island had only a share of just under 10 percent of electricity generation, while Germany reported a whopping 20 percent. A year later, proportion of coal flow in UK was even up by a third. But government reacted: following year, it ushered in energy turnaround on British, coal phase-out.
"I am still surprised how broadly and quickly change has occurred," says energy researcher Iain Squadronl of Imperial College in London. "German politicians should look very closely at what happened in Britain." The secret of success behind British coal exit, which is to be completed by 2025, is not complicated. On April 1, 2013, a system called carbon price floor entered into force. It drastically increased flow of coal.
To this end, it is necessary to know that energy producers must buy a certificate in EU emissions trading for every tonne of CO ₂ y emit for electricity generation into atmosphere. The problem: There are too many certificates. The surplus is now two billion pieces. Their price has refore decreased significantly over years, in meantime to only five euros per tonne of CO ₂, currently it is almost seven euros. Coal, in turn, has become increasingly cheaper on world market since US began a massive natural gas production ten years ago.
This text comes from time Knowledge magazine 2/18. You can purchase current booklet at kiosk or here.Both, low price of certificates and affordable coal, had result that coal electricity was very cheap to produce. The British electricity producers did not miss this opportunity, and so it came to 2012 to increase in coal flow. The British Government refore introduced a surcharge. It is payable on every tonne of CO ₂ emissions to Treasury and amounts to 18 pounds, equivalent to about 20 euros.
Thanks to this raised carbon price floor, charcoal was abruptly expensive. Natural gas, whose price had been above that of coal, was suddenly in high demand. "Britain had many gas-fired power plants that were poorly utilized," says Squadronl. Since 2014, more than two dozen coal-fired power stations have gone off grid while gas stations have been powered up. Eight coal-fired power plants are now still on grid, at latest 2025 should be switched off.
Moment, one might object. Do gas power plants not also emit CO ₂? Is it not a question of promoting renewable energy? And doesn't Britain, unlike Germany, want to keep its nuclear power plants running? The answer is three times: Yes, but.
Date Of Update: 20 February 2018, 12:03
