The UK helped usher in the age of coal – it is now closing its last remaining plant

At the end of the month, the United Kingdom will shut down its last coal-fired power station.

Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire is set to close on September 30, marking the end of coal-fired power in the UK. It turns the page on the era of dirty energy that the UK helped usher in around the world and now has to leave to meet climate targets.

The coal-fired power plant began operating in 1967, and received its last coal delivery in June. This plant, which is capable of producing 2,000 megawatts of electricity, can produce enough electricity for about two million homes, according to the Uniper electricity company that owns it. In its decades of operation, it has produced enough energy to make more than 21 billion cups of tea, or about 1 million cups a day, Uniper said.

However, it will take two years to decommission the facility after it closes, requiring 125 employees to remain on board until then. Uniper announced plans last year to eventually produce hydrogen on site instead of coal power. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel does not create carbon dioxide pollution when burning the planet.

The caveat is that most hydrogen today is made through a process called steam methane reforming, which results in the production of greenhouse gases. The cleanest way to make hydrogen is through electrolysis, splitting water molecules using renewable energy. Uniper says it is interested in producing hydrogen through electrolysis at a former coal plant, reaching a capacity of 500 megawatts by the end of the decade. After developing the site for low-carbon energy production, Uniper says it could create up to 8,000 jobs.

Coal still makes up more than one-third of the world’s electricity mix, producing more energy and more greenhouse gas emissions than any other fuel. But coal-fired power generation has fallen sharply in the UK since 2012, falling from around 40 per cent to just 1 per cent of the UK’s electricity mix by 2023. wind and solar instead of coal.

The UK passed the Climate Change Act in 2008 which put it on track to phase out coal on the way to achieving a target of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. If the Ratcliffe-on-Soar facility closes, the UK will be the first. improved economy and the nation’s Group 7 to phase out coal power, according to climate change think tank E3G.