Britain becomes first rich country to end coal power as last ever UK power station SHUTS for good

Britain's nearly 150-year reliance on coal power ended last night. The last remaining coal-fired power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar near Nottingham, switched off its generators for the last time at midnight The closing draws to a close 142 years of British reliance on the fossil fuel to generate electricity The symbolic moment makes the United Kingdom the first G7 country to close down all of its coal power stations Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station has been generating electricity since 1968 via its four coal-fired boilers, eight vast cooling towers and 199m-tall chimney, which occupies a prominent spot in the East Midlands skyline. Able to power about two million homes, it became the last station of its kind in the UK since September 2023, when Northern Ireland's Kilroot power station stopped producing electricity from coal. Since then, 15 coal power plants closed or switched fuels and last year the fossil fuel made up just 1 per cent of the UK's supply, according to data from National Grid's Electricity System Operator. The power station has occupied a prominent spot in the East Midlands skyline Many of the 170 people employed by the plant's owner, Uniper, will stay on to help with the two-year decommissioning process Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station under construction in 1964 Coal went on to play a major role in the national energy supply throughout the 20th century and accounted for about 80 per cent of UK power in 1990 But next comes the far larger task of significantly reducing the use of gas and further ramping up renewables, as the newly-elected Labour Government seeks to hit net zero emissions from electricity generation by 2030.