Heatwave generates ‘solar surge’ to power every home in London

The heatwave which has baked much of the UK over the past five days has caused a ‘solar surge’ in the amount of sun-generated power being produced.

During the hottest part of Monday 8.4GW of solar energy powered electricity was supplied to the national grid - enough energy to power every home in London for two and a half hours.

The energy generated at the peak of the heatwave would also be enough to power:

• Scotland’s 2.37m households for 3½ hours
• Wales’ 1.3m households for 6½ hours
• Manchester’s 1.2m households for 7 hours
• Bristol’s 187,000 households for more than two days

The scorching weather also helped renewable energy to account for 28.5% of power supplied to the grid yesterday; this comes just a month after the national grid went without coal powered electricity for an entire day.

Renewable energy company Pure Planet have welcomed the spike in renewables, hailing the results as yet more evidence of the potential which lies in renewable energy. Pure Planet co-founder Steven Day, said: “It’s great to see our stunning sunshine smashing solar records. The vast quantities of sunshine powering the grid again today - just under a fifth by mid-morning - shows that we can all enjoy fresh, clean power which doesn't pollute.

“In the past few weeks we've seen solar power eclipse the UK’s eight nuclear power stations in terms of output and the grid has also gone without coal for an entire day for the first time. Reliable, clean and affordable energy is now a real choice for the British public.”