This combination means CO2 emissions from the country’s electricity system have been cut by a third during the coal-free stretch relative to the same period last year, Carbon Brief analysis shows. During the record-breaking period, demand has been 18% lower than last year, as businesses around the country are closed due to the coronavirus response. Renewables have been the largest source of electricity, supplying 37%, with another 32% from gas and 22% from nuclear. The remaining 9% has been imported from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The figures are in stark contrast to 2012 – the earliest available detailed data – when coal supplied some 43% of the total for Great Britain, another 26% was from gas and just 7% was from renewables. Coal-free record Back in 2016, just before midnight on 9 May, Great Britain’s electricity system ran without coal-fired power stations for the first time since a public grid had been established in 1882. After some four hours of coal-free operation, one of the country’s remaining coal plants switched back on. Just under a year later, the grid ran coal-free for a full 24-hour period that ended on 21 April 2017. The first coal-free week in early May last year was quickly followed by a first fortnight, which went on to set the current record coal-free run of 18 days, six hours and ten minutes. Early this morning, Tuesday 28 April, a new record was set at 18 days, six hours and 15 minutes – and counting. Great Britain’s coal plants switched off at 23:45 on Thursday 9 April, just before the Easter long weekend, and have not resumed operation as of 06:00 today.