Research undertaken by analysts at the Carbon Brief has proven that solar produced 50% more power than coal across the whole month of May.

A new milestone has been reached within the UK renewables industry – solar power produced more electricity than coal across the whole month of May. With longer summer days and less reliance on coal use, solar panels were able to generate 50% more electricity than their dirtier alternative – generating an estimated 1,336 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity in comparison to 893GWh from the fossil fuel.

This is great news – the rapid rise of solar throughout the UK has seen a range of milestones reached in the last few years and this highlights the major changes going on within the UK electricity system. In January 2016 solar generated only 1% of the UK’s electricity needs in comparison to 17% for coal. In May, last month this was reversed so that solar generated power reached up to 6% and the fossil fuel dropped to just a little more than 3%.

To further this the government has pledged to phase out all coal powered electricity by 2025. The cost of solar panels has dropped significantly over recent years and this along with both climate concerns and strong financial returns – we should see further increases in solar powered electricity in the near future.

For the full story please visit the Carbon Brief website by clicking here.