More than 140 years after the world’s first coal-fired power station opened in London, the United Kingdom is preparing to say goodbye to this ultra-polluting fuel, which has played such a role in its development. A first for a G7 country.
Its imposing grey chimneys stand out in the middle of the greenery of the East Midlands, in the centre of England. Eight aligned beacons, sometimes smoking, which are embedded in every corner of the earth in the eyes of the inhabitants.
But the days of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, between Derby and Nottingham, the last to use coal in the United Kingdom, are numbered: the venerable establishment, inaugurated in 1967, will close on September 30, sounding the death knell for the fuel in the country’s electricity production.
“It’s going to be very strange because it’s always been there,” said David Reynolds, a 74-year-old retiree who watched the plant being built as a child.
“When I was younger, you could drive through certain corners and see nothing but coal mines,” the sunken-faced man recalls. “I wonder how we’re going to suddenly get by without them.”
“Great Smog”
The history of the United Kingdom is closely linked to that of coal, which contributed to its economic growth in the 19th century.e century and up to the 1990s.
This extremely polluting energy – the London “Great Smog” of 1952 and its thousands of deaths remain etched in British memory – still represented nearly 70% of electricity in the 1980s. Before a spectacular drop: 38% in 2013, 5% in 2018 and 1% last year, according to the Our World in Data institute.
The closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar is a symbolic step in London’s ambition to completely decarbonise its electricity by 2030, and then achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
A “very ambitious” 2030 horizon, acknowledges Jess Ralston, of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank. But the end of coal already allows “a very strong message” to be sent to other countries.
Because the United Kingdom is the first G7 country to do without fuel: Italy has set itself 2025, France 2027, Canada 2030, Germany 2038. Japan and the United States do not have a precise date.
Sulfur dioxide
To get rid of fuel, the British have compensated with natural gas, a little less polluting, which represents a third of electricity in 2023. A quarter goes to wind power, a notable proportion. Nuclear power is at around 13%.
This success is explained by “a combination of economic factors and regulations,” Jess Ralston explains. On the one hand, the end of the manufacturing economy has made coal less important.
On the other hand, power plants “have been subject to regulations because of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and all (their) emissions,” the analyst continues.
Ultimately, “it was no longer economically interesting to invest” in this energy, unlike renewables.
The UK’s climate change commitments have only strengthened the movement.
The new Labour government launched a green energy plan this summer, creating a public company to invest in floating wind turbines, tidal energy and nuclear power.
Thomas Edison
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, potentially capable of electrifying 2 million homes, was only occasionally called upon: for example, due to a cold snap in 2022, or a relatively high heatwave (sometimes over 30 degrees) raising fears of intensive use of air conditioners in 2023.
Its final cargo, 1,650 tonnes of coal at the start of summer, was barely enough to power 500,000 homes for eight hours.
“It’s like the end of an era,” says Becky, 25, who is serving £4 pints with a tattoo on her wrist behind the wooden counter of the Red Lion, a pub in the market town of Kegworth, close to the site.
Her father, who has worked at the plant for years, will lose his job. She anticipates “a lot of emotion” on September 30 for the 350 employees. “It’s their whole life.”
Nothing remains of the world’s first coal-fired power station, designed by Thomas Edison and opened in the heart of London in 1882.
A similar fate awaits that of Ratcliffe-on-Soar, completely dismantled “by the end of the decade”, according to Uniper. Before the creation on site of a “carbon-free technology and energy hub”.