Great Britain ends 142‑year coal era with final plant closure
BBC reported that Great Britain will cease producing electricity from coal, ending a 142-year dependence on this fossil fuel. The country's last coal-fired power plant, located in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, will be ceremoniously shut down on Tuesday.
10:49 AM EDT, October 1, 2024
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant ended electricity production on September 30. On Tuesday, it will be ceremoniously shut down. Most recently, it was owned by the German company Uniper and could generate 2000 MW of power. Since September of last year, it was the only active coal power plant in Great Britain. It had been operating since 1968.
As BBC emphasizes, this marks a milestone in the country's ambitions to reduce Great Britain's contribution to climate change.
"Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel producing the most greenhouse gases when burnt," the article states. Great Britain was the cradle of coal energy, and as of Tuesday, it becomes the first major economy to abandon it. It is the first country in the G7 to step away from coal.
"It's a really remarkable day, because Britain, after all, built her whole strength on coal, that is the industrial revolution," said Lord Deben, the longest-serving secretary of the environment.
It was noted that Thomas Edison built the world's first coal power plant (Holborn Viaduct) in London in 1882, bringing light to the streets of the capital of Great Britain.
The end of an era
Coal quickly became the dominant energy source in Great Britain and beyond. In the 1920s, it accounted for almost 100% of the British energy mix. In the first half of the 1950s, it made up over 90%, and even in the 1980s, it contributed to about 70% of the energy mix. In the 1990s, coal began to be displaced by gas in the national energy mix, but it remained the foundation of the British energy grid. In 2012, it accounted for 39% of electricity production.
However, in the last decade, there has been a rapid shift away from coal in favor of mainly renewable energy sources. In 2008, Great Britain established its first legally binding climate targets. In 2015, then Energy and Climate Change Minister Amber Rudd announced that the country would end the use of coal energy within a decade. While in 2010 only 7% of energy came from renewable sources, in the first half of 2024, this share rose to over 50%, setting a new record.
Today’s closure at Ratcliffe marks the end of an era and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country for over 140 years. We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country, stated Deputy Energy Minister Michael Shanks.
"We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country. The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning," he added.
