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About two per cent of the UK's power was lost after protesters managed to break into E.On's Kingsnorth power plant and switch off one of the turbines.
Protestors upset about plans to build another coal-burning power plant on the site, breached security and deactivated one of the turbines on November 28th, though it wasn't reported until yesterday (December 8th).
However, because of the way the National Grid works, nobody was affected.
Burning coal is the most "dirty" or carbon intensive way of generating electricity, emitting 890 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour (g/kWh), compared to 360 g/kWh for natural gas and none for renewables or nuclear.
Protesters oppose the construction of a new plant when the existing one closes in 2015.
E.On proposes building two new coal units which it says will be 20 per cent cleaner, which would still be significantly more carbon intensive than natural gas.
Various energy companies are bidding to build a carbon capture and storage demonstration plant to test and develop technology which some claim could reduce emissions from coal-burning plants by up to 90 per cent.
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