Today (30 September) marks the closure of the UK’s final coal-fired power plant, the 2GW Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station owned by German energy company Uniper.
Since 2000, 25 coal plants in the UK have closed or switched to other fuels, 15 of those since 2012. Now becoming the first G7 nation to go completely coal-free, the UK was also the first country to open a coal power plant, in 1882. On 30 April this year, the G7 nations struck a landmark deal to end reliance on coal power by 2035.
Commenting on the closure, former chair of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), Lord Deben said: “King Coal is dead. Long live his clean successors. This is the day we finally recognise that we can have power without it costing the Earth.”
Ratcliffe-on-Soar has been operating for over 50 years. Its buildings, cooling towers and other structures will be decommissioned and demolished—the decommissioning process is expected to take about two years.
Minister for energy Michael Shanks called the closure the end of an era, adding that “a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning”.
He continued: “The government’s clean energy superpower mission is about creating good jobs in wind power and new technologies like carbon capture and storage. That work is helping boost our energy security and independence, protecting families from international hikes in the price of fossil fuels and, with it, creating jobs and tackling climate change.”
Plant manager for the power station, Peter O’Grady, said the closure marks an “emotional day” for him and the 170-strong workforce there. O’Grady continued that he is proud “to be part of this energy milestone as the country focuses on a cleaner energy future”.
In July 2023, a local consent order was granted for the redevelopment of the site, which will remain under Uniper’s ownership. Plans for the site, developed with UK consultancy Arup, will see it and surrounding land redeveloped as a zero-carbon technology and energy hub for the East Midlands.
Uniper, which is based in Dusseldorf, aims to be carbon neutral by 2040. Ratcliffe’s closure is announced alongside the company’s permanent shutdown of the hard coal power plant Heyden 4 near Minden, Germany. In the UK, it will continue operating five gas-powered electricity plants.
Renewable power growing in the UK
The closure comes as the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) released its report on energy trends in the UK for the second quarter, showing that renewable power accounted for 51.6% of total electricity generation between April and June this year.
Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “There were those who warned of blackouts as coal disappeared from the power system, but their predictions of doom have been proven wrong again and again.
“Today, the expansion of renewables like offshore wind in UK waters is increasingly squeezing gas off the grid, which will help to stabilise prices and boost our energy security in the face of volatile international gas markets.”
Ed Matthew, campaigns director at independent climate change think tank E3G, commented: “The UK was the first country to build a coal-fired power station. It is right that it is the first major economy to exit coal power. This is true global leadership, lighting the path for other countries to follow.
