- Eurozone contracts by 3.6% in first quarter as household spending, investment and exports plummet
- German and French exports slump in April
- Asian markets rise for ninth session on economic recovery hopes
1.52pm BST
Gareth Baker, energy partner at the law firm Gowling WLG, says:
With the continuing reduction in commercial and industrial demand caused by COVID-19, combining with high wind speeds and sunny days, coal was always going to be the loser in our energy mix. Whilst this is part of a long-term trend, the system has coped with the substantial increase in renewable generation remarkably well.
The next challenge is how the network balances and manages intermittency and energy storage has to become a substantial part of the solution.
12.45pm BST
In a more positive milestone, Britain will tomorrow reach two consecutive months without using electricity from coal-fired power stations for the first time since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, according to the National Grid, Reuters reports.
Britain opened its first coal plant in the 1880s and coal became the main source of electricity over the next century. But coal plants emit almost double the amount of carbon dioxide (which is blamed for global warming) as gas-fired power plants, and use of (near) zero carbon sources such as wind and solar is steadily growing.
Source: European shares slide despite Nasdaq record; German exports collapse – business live
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