Britain’s transition to net zero is changing the country’s energy landscape.Britain’s last coal-fired power plant is shutting down, ending 142 years of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in central England will finish its final shift at midnight on Monday after more than half a century of turning coal into power.
The United Kingdom’s government has hailed the closure as a milestone in efforts to generate all of Britain’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.
Plant manager Peter O’Grady said it was “an emotional day.”
“When I started my career 36 years ago, none of us imaged a future without coal generation in our lifetimes,” he told the Associated Press news agency.
The shutdown makes Britain the first country from the Group of Seven major economies to phase out coal — though some other European nations, including Sweden and Belgium, got there sooner.
UK 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.
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