Last British coal-fired power station to close

The last coal-fired power plant in the UK will close today, Monday. It is located in Ratcliffe-on-Soar near Nottingham and is owned by the energy company Uniper. This marks the end of coal-fired power generation in the UK after 140 years. According to the climate portal "Carbon Brief", the country is the first major economy and the first member of the G7 to take this step.

In June 2021, the Conservative government of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson brought the energy transition forward by another year by phasing out coal. In future, the new British government also only wants to produce "clean electricity". In addition to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, this also includes nuclear power. The "new era" in the energy sector will bring new jobs, including in areas such as carbon capture and storage.

Germany will follow later

A good 100 years ago, almost all electricity in the UK was generated using coal. Since the first power station opened in 1882, UK coal-fired power stations have burned a total of 4.6 billion tons of coal and emitted 10.4 billion tons of CO₂, according to the Carbon Brief – more than most countries have ever produced from all sources.

The first steam engines, which were used from around the beginning of the 18th century to pump water out of mines, were powered by coal. Improvements to the technology increased the demand for the machines, helping to drive the industrial revolution, but also coal consumption and CO₂ emissions.

In Germany, the coal phase-out has been agreed for 2038. The German government had planned to "ideally" bring the date forward to 2030.

(anw)