This autumn, for the first time ever, the UK is expecting to run entirely on zero-emissions electricity for a few hours. That doesn’t just mean a sunny day with loads of solar and wind and some exports to the neighbours—that’s happened before. But even during those times, gas power was still online, helping keep the grid stable.
This time, the goal is no gas, no coal, no oil—and no electricity imports. Just clean, homegrown electricity. It’s a big milestone—and a taste of what a fully zero-emissions grid could look like.
40 years ago, coal made up three-quarters of the UK’s electricity. Even 15 years ago, it was still mostly fossil-fuelled, but with gas instead of coal.
So how did they get from that… to here? And what would it take to go from a few hours of clean electricity… to 24/7/365? And beyond electricity—what else needs to happen to get to a fully zero-emissions economy?
To help me understand how the UK pulled this off—and what’s next—I’ve brought in some local expertise: David Borlace, from @JustHaveaThink.
Bookmarks:
00:00 Intro
01:53 How the UK got rid of coal
03:11 Per capita territorial emissions vs consumption emissions
05:04 Wind overtakes gas as number one generation source
07:14 Solar Power in the UK
08:13 CFD Contracts for Difference
09:32 Grid Innovations
11:34 100% renewable electricity 24/7/365
12:45 Getting clean electricity where people want to use it
14:17 Hydrogen and CCS
15:32 Decarbonising Transport
16:23 Home heating and insulation
17:01 Challenges
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The Engineering with Rosie team is:
Rosemary Barnes: presenter, producer, writer
Javi Diez: editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/javierdie…
Sources:
• Margaret Thatcher – UN General Assembly Cl…
https://www.theguardian.com/environme…
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/pr…
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/…
https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication….
https://www.renewableuk.com/energypul…
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ne…
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/07/1…
https://www.gov.uk/government/publica…
https://www.regen.co.uk/insights/cfd-…
https://www.neso.energy/news/great-br…
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/03/0…
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/12/1…
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/43…
https://energy-efficient-home.campaig…
https://dwfgroup.com/en/news-and-insi…
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