Swift coal transition from country that started Industrial Revolution will be watched closely

Turbines at the UK’s last coal-fired power station have turned for the last time – a milestone in Britain’s transition to zero-carbon power and the end of Britain’s 142-year history of burning coal for electricity.

The closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant outside Nottingham makes the UK the first major economy, and first G7 member, to completely phase out coal – no less significant for a country that was home to the world’s first coal-fired power plant, built in 1882.

“Today’s closure at Ratcliffe marks the end of an era and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country,” Michael Shanks, the minister for energy, said.

“We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country.”

When Ratcliffe began operating in 1967 nearly 400,000 people were employed in the coal industry.

Ratcliffe’s was one of the UK’s largest coal plants capable of generating 2 gigawatts of electricity – enough power for all the homes in the East Midlands.

Its closure was on the cards since 2015 when the government announced the phase-out of coal for electricity – the most polluting source of power – by 2025.

But that makes it no less hard for those who’ve devoted their careers working there to keep the lights on.

“It’s an emotional day for me as well as for the team,” Peter O’Grady, Ratcliffe’s plant manager, said.

“When I started my career 36 years ago, none of us imagined a future without coal generation in our lifetimes.

While the science of climate change was established by then, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that policies were introduced to actively phase out coal.

Colossal carbon footprint

Ratcliffe was the first and only coal-fired power plant to be later equipped with advanced “scrubbing” technology to remove nitrogen oxide and sulphur pollutants billowing from its chimneys.

But there was no affordable solution to the planet-warming carbon dioxide it and other coal plants produced.

Since the furnace of the world’s first coal-fired power plant was lit in Victorian London, the UK has burned an estimated 4.6bn tonnes of coal for electricity and pumped about 10.4bn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

That is more CO2 than most countries have ever produced from all sources, not just coal electricity, according to analysis by Carbon Brief.

Advance to cleaner power

The UK’s rapid adoption of coal accounts for its colossal carbon footprint, but its transition to cleaner power has been even faster.

“This is the final chapter of a remarkably swift transition from the country that started the Industrial Revolution,” Phil MacDonald, managing director of energy think tank Ember, said.

In 2012, coal still supplied nearly 40% of our electricity.

New policies and financial incentives for cleaner energy sources accelerated coal’s decline. Its share of generation dropped to 7% by 2017 and about 2% since 2020.

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Yet despite an urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions worldwide, global demand for coal is still rising, particularly in Asia.

“It is not enough to not build new coal plants, we have to find ways to push existing coal plants into early retirement,” Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said.

But a rapid transition away from fossil fuels isn’t just about moving away from coal, which, according to the IEA still provides income for 50 million people worldwide.

It involves affordable and secure alternatives and replacing coal’s role in heavy industry much of which has now left the UK.

Other countries may look to the UK for lessons in ending a love affair with coal – but our planned transition to entirely zero-carbon electricity will be watched even more closely.