The last coal-fired power station in the UK has stopped working

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant in Nottinghamshire, recently owned by the German company Uniper, has been operating since 1968. As of September last year, it was the only operating coal-fired power station in the UK.

In recent years, coal-fired power plants were kept mainly as a reserve in case of energy crises, e.g. during an exceptionally harsh winter, but their share in energy production was negligible and amounted to approximately 1%.

Great Britain was the first country in the world to start using coal to generate energy. The world's first coal-fired power plant was built in 1882 in London by Thomas Edison, and the energy it produced was used to illuminate the streets of the British capital.

Coal quickly became the dominant source of energy – in the 1920s it accounted for almost 100 percent. in the British energy mix, in the first half of the 1950s – over 90%, and in the 1980s – about 70%.

Over the last dozen or so years, however, there has been a very rapid shift away from coal to, above all, coal renewable energy sources. In 2008, the UK set its first legally binding climate targets, and in 2015, then-Minister for Energy and climate change Amber Rudd announced that the country will end the use of coal energy within a decade.

While in 2010 only 7% came from renewable energy sources. energy, in the first half of 2024 this share increased to over 50%, which is a new record.

– Today's closure of Ratcliffe Power Station marks the end of an era, and coal sector workers can be proud of their work that has powered our country for over 140 years. As a country, we owe them a debt of gratitude. The era of coal may be ending, but a new era of good jobs in the energy industry for our country is just beginning. The government's mission to become a clean energy superpower is to create good jobs in wind energy and new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, said Deputy Energy Minister Michael Shanks.