On Monday, September 30, Britain's last coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Suir, Nottinghamshire, will work its last day of operation before closure.
The Guardian reports on this landmark event.
The power station is coming to the end of its life cycle in line with the government's policy to phase out coal power, which was first announced nearly 10 years ago.
In 2021, employees were first informed that the company would close at the end of 2022. But later, the owner of Ratcliffe – the German energy company Uniper – said that under an agreement with the government it would support the operation of the plant during the European gas crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Uniper is now working with unions to help many of the engineers find new jobs at the company's other power plants, or receive training that could help them work in other areas of the energy industry. More than 100 workers are expected to remain at the station for decommissioning work over the next two years.
How the country moved to abandon coal
Britain has become the first country to set an end date for coal-fired power from 2025 after introducing increasingly stringent "green" rules aimed at reducing the operating hours of coal-fired power plants.
The Guardian provides an infographic with the locations of the UK's largest coal-fired power stations that have either closed or switched to alternative energy sources:
Source: theguardian.com.
Coal generated 80% of the UK's electricity in the early 1980s, and 40% in 2012, but has declined in the last decade due to high carbon taxes and the development of cheaper renewables.
Ed Mathew, director of climate crisis think tank E3G, said:
"Britain was the first country to build a coal-fired power station. It is right that it became the first major economy to move away from coal power. This is true global leadership that is lighting the way for other countries."
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that, according to the experts of the Institute of Energy Research, this winter in Europe will burn more coal due to rising gas prices.
We also talked about the forecasts of the Commodity Trading Club, the world's largest commodity community, whose analysts believe that global coal production in 2024 will continue to grow thanks to China and India.
