Britain to close its last coal-fired power station at the end of the month

Britain’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, will be permanently closed in less than two weeks, on 30 September. For residents of the village, it marks the end of an era, the BBC news website noted. BBC. Decommissioning, which will begin immediately after the complex closes, will take two years.

Construction of the power station began in September 1963, and it entered service on 31 January 1968. According to the BBC, its opening was a milestone for local residents and had a direct impact on their lives.

“As soon as my grandchildren see the towers, they know they’re near my house,” local resident Maria Weston-Webb, who lives right beside the cooling towers, told the BBC.

“It seems silly that we feel attached to it, but it will be very sad when it’s gone,” she said.

At the same time, she did not hide the fact that living near a coal-fired power station had its downsides. “We used to get black spots on our laundry when we hung it out, and black spots on car roofs caused by acid,” Weston-Webb added.

At its peak, the power station employed around 3,000 people and burned approximately 6.5 million tonnes of coal a year in the 1980s. In recent years, the number of employees has fallen to around 350. According to owner Uniper, 125 employees will remain on site to decommission the complex. The cooling towers will be dismantled only after this process is completed, in two years’ time. The company hopes the site could eventually become a hub for emissions-free technologies and energy.

Coal was once a key part of the UK energy mix. In the 1980s, coal-fired power accounted for as much as 70 percent of electricity generation in the United Kingdom. Coal was gradually displaced by gas, followed by cheap renewables, particularly offshore wind farms.

In recent years, coal-fired power has accounted for a few percent of UK electricity generation. Last winter, for example, its share temporarily rose to 3.4 percent, according to The Guardian. The British government decided in 2016 to phase out coal by 2025.