The UK is due to close its last operating coal-fired power station at the end of the month.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire is due to close on 30 September, marking the end of coal-fired power in the UK. It is a move to turn the page on an era of dirty energy that the UK helped usher in globally and now needs to leave behind to meet climate goals.
The coal-fired power plant was first put into operation in 1967 and received its Last coal delivery By June, the 2,000-megawatt plant can produce enough electricity for about two million homes, according to the energy company Uniper, which owns the plant. Over its decades of operation, it has generated enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea, or about 1 billion cups a day, Uniper says.
Uniper announced plans to eventually produce hydrogen on site instead of coal-fired power.
Still, he will. It will reportedly take two years to dismantle the plant after it is shut down, requiring 125 employees to remain on board until then. Uniper announced plans Last year, the plan was to produce hydrogen on site instead of coal-fired power. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel does not generate planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution when burned.
The caveat is that most hydrogen today is produced through a process called steam methane reformingwhich still generates greenhouse gas emissions. A cleaner way to produce hydrogen is through electrolysis, splitting water molecules using renewable energy. Uniper says it is interested in producing hydrogen through electrolysis at the former coal plant, reaching a capacity of 500 megawatts by the end of the decade. After redeveloping the site to produce low-carbon energy, Uniper He says it could create up to 8,000 jobs.
Coal still accounts for more than a third of the global electricity mix and generates More energy and greenhouse gas emissions than any other fuelBut coal-fired power generation has declined dramatically in the UK. Since 2012falling from almost 40 percent to just 1 percent of the UK's electricity mix in 2023Greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector have fallen by 74 percent over the same time period as wind and solar power replace coal.
The UK passed a Climate Change Act in 2008 that Place it on a path phase out coal on the path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Once the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant closes, the UK will become the first advanced economy and Group of 7 nation to phase out coal power. According to the E3G climate change expert group.
