Britain is just left coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire generated electricity for the last time on Monday after powering the UK for 57 years.
The power plant has come to the end of its life in line with the government’s world-leading policy to phase out coal power which was first indicated nearly a decade ago.
The closure marks the end of Britain’s 142-year history of coal-fired power, which began when the world’s first coal-fired power station, Holborn Viaduct Power Station, began generating electricity in 1882.
The shutdown was hailed by green campaigners as a major achievement for the government in reducing the UK’s carbon emissions, providing international climate leadership and securing a “just transition” for staff in Britain’s coal industry.
Michael Shanks, the energy minister, said on Monday: “Today’s closure at Ratcliffe is the end of an era and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work which has powered our country for over 140 years. We owe generations of gratitude as a country.”
The UK has become the first country to set an end date for coal power from 2025 after introducing increasingly strict green regulations to reduce the operating hours of its coal plants.
Ministers reinforced the UK’s leadership on phasing out coal by calling for the deadline to be brought forward by a year, shortly before the UK hosts the UN’s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in late 2021.
Ratcliffe’s 170 remaining staff were invited to gather in the canteen on Monday where a live feed from the power station’s control room showed the moment its generating units were switched off for the last time.
Peter O’Grady, Ratcliffe’s plant manager, said: “This whole year has been a series of poignant moments. I’m sure there will be a few tears as the whole thing stops and people leave.”
The coal plant once employed 3,000 engineers, but its workforce has declined in line with its power output in recent years. Coal power accounted for 80 percent of the UK’s electricity in the early 1980s, and 40 percent in 2012, before disappearing in the last decade due to expensive carbon taxes and the rise of cheaper renewables.
“This is the final chapter of a remarkably rapid transition of the country that started the industrial revolution,” said Phil MacDonald, managing director of global energy think tank Ember.
A report by Ember found that coal power among member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, has halved since it peaked in 2007. Coal power accounted for 17 percent of electricity generated by OECD countries last year, according to Ember, but 27 of the 38 member countries have pledged to be coal-free by the end of the decade.
Ed Matthew, a director at climate crisis think tank E3G, said: “The UK was the first country to build a coal-fired power station. It is right that it is the first major economy to leave coal power. This is real world leadership leading the way enlightened for other countries to follow.”
Tony Bosworth, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The priority now is to also move away from gas, by developing the UK’s huge home-grown renewable energy potential as quickly as possible and delivering the economic boost it will bring. But this necessary green transition must be fair by protecting workers and benefiting communities.”
Staff were only told in 2021 that the plant would close at the end of 2022, but Ratcliffe’s owner, German energy company Uniper, later said it would keep the plant running during the Europe-wide gas crisis caused by Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine in terms of an agreement with the government.
Uniper has worked with unions to help many engineers find new jobs at the company’s other power plants or with training that could lead to work in other areas of the energy industry. More than 100 are expected to remain at the plant to do decommissioning work over the next two years.
Uniper chief executive Michael Lewis said: “To me, Ratcliffe has always been more than just a power station – it has been a pillar of the UK’s energy security for decades. Built during a time when coal was the backbone of industrial progress, Ratcliffe powered more than 2 million homes and businesses – equivalent to the entire East Midlands region. It has played a crucial role in promoting economic growth and supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people.
“It will be the first time since 1882 that coal does not power Great Britain. As we close this chapter, we honor Ratcliffe’s legacy and the people who work here, while embracing the future of cleaner and flexible energy,” he said.
