Britain has achieved a historic electricity generation milestone, generating more electricity from zero-carbon sources than fossil fuels for the first time.

Since the Industrial Revolution energy has been predominately created by burning fossil fuels, but now, according to National Grid, annual power generation data from the last decade shows Britain’s reliance on cleaner energy sources (wind, solar, nuclear, hydropower and storage) will overtake fossil fuels (coal and gas-fired power generation) - a historic achievement in Britain’s journey towards the Government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050.

The news follows May’s first coal-free fortnight and record levels of solar power for two consecutive days, powering more than a quarter of the country’s daily electricity consumption.

John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid, said: “The incredible progress that Britain has made in the past ten years means we can now say 2019 will be the year net zero power beats fossil fuel-fired generation for the first time. Having reached this landmark tipping point, the question is what are we doing today to get to net zero as quickly as possible?”

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