Coal has provided electrical energy in the UK for 142 years, but on 30 September 2024 it ends. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant closes.

Ending coal generation makes the UK the first major economy to give it up its coal habit, and operator Uniper intends that the site will be redeveloped into a new clean energy technology hub.

Situated in Nottinghamshire, the plant has been in operation for over five decades, opening in1968, and has a capacity of 2TW, which, at peak, can produce up to 10 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

Over a quarter of the country’s electricity (28 per cent) was generated from coal in 2010, but this had fallen to 2 per cent by 2022 (Ember figures), and now it is zero. Conversely, in 2010, the year David Cameron become Prime Minister, Renewables generated only seven per cent of electricity, and indeed the then Premier was at time ridiculed for his adoption of a domestic wind turbine, but now renewables stand at around half of the generating need despite growth in the economy.

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