UK to shut last coal-powered electricity plant after 142 years

Britain will end 142-years of coal-powered electricity as its last coal-fired power plant will close on Monday. The power plants paved the way to the industrial revolution.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in central England will finish its final shift at midnight after more than half a century of turning coal into power. Many of the 170 remaining employees will stay with the company during a two-year decommissioning process.

The UK government said that this was a milestone in the effort to generate all of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2030. This also makes Britain the first country amongst the G7 to phase out coal. However, a few European nations, including Sweden and Belgium, got there sooner.



Britain’s energy Minister Michael Shanks said the plant’s closure “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.”

“The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning,” he said.

The world’s first coal-fired electricity plant plant was Thomas Edison’s Edison Electric Light Station opened in London in 1882.

Ratcliffe-on-Soar was opened in 1986. Equipped with eight concrete cooling towers and 199-meter (650-foot) chimney, it acts as a landmark on the M1 highway.


About 80 per cent of the country’s electricity was powered by coal in 1990. It had fallen to 39 per cent by 2012 and just 1 per cent by 2023, according to figures from the National Grid.

Today, more than half of the electricity comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar power and the rest is produced from natural gas and nuclear energy.

More than half of Britain’s electricity now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and the rest from

“Ten years ago, coal was the leading source of this country’s power — generating a third of our electricity,” said Dhara Vyas, deputy chief executive of trade body Energy UK.

“So, to get to this point just a decade later, with coal’s contribution replaced by clean and low carbon sources, is an incredible achievement," Vyas said. "As we aim for further ambitious targets in the energy transition, it’s worth remembering that few back then thought such a change at such a pace was possible.”