On last Monday, What happened? The closure of the last remaining coal-fired power plant in the country, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in England’s Midlands, owned by Uniper, has mark the end of an era in the UK’s energy sector. It has marked the end of over 140 years of coal power in Britain. Britain has become the first member state of the G7 to cease the production of electricity from coal.
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In 2015
Back in 2015, Britain announced plans to close coal plants within the next decade as part of wider measures to reach its climate targets. At that time, almost 30% of the country’s electricity came from coal, but this had fallen to just over 1% last year. The UK has shown it can phase out coal power quickly, said Julia Skorupska, the head of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. This group of 60 governments wants to end coal power.
Since 1990
The decline in coal-fired electricity generation has contributed to a reduction in Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have decreased by over 50% since 1990.
In order to achieve its objective of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, the United Kingdom also plans to de-carbonise the electricity sector by 2030. This will necessitate a significant increase in the use of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, in a relatively short period of time.
What Energy Minister Michael Shanks says?
In an emailed statement, Energy Minister Michael Shanks asserted that while the era of coal is drawing to a close, a new age of promising employment opportunities in the energy sector is on the horizon.
What the owner says?
The owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar factory, Uniper said, the site will be put into a two-year decommissioning period beginning in October.
There are 350 Uniper employees and contractors that work at the site. They will either be redeployed to other roles within the company or leave the business within three redundancy windows before the end of 2026, Uniper told AFP.
Scientists said that the use of fossil fuels must be stopped to meet goals
The energy emissions makeup around three quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have said that the use of fossil fuels must be stopped to meet goals set under the Paris climate agreement.
What happened 6 months ago?
In April, the G7 major industrialized countries agreed to scrap coal power in the first half of the next decade. However this also gave some leeway to economies who are heavily coal-reliant. It drew criticism from green groups.
“There is a lot of work to do to ensure that both the 2035 target is met and brought forward to 2030, particularly in Japan, the U.S., and Germany,” said Christine Shearer, Research Analyst, Global Energy Monitor to Reuters.
Coal power is still used in Germany and Japan
Still, coal power makes up more than 25% of Germany’s electricity. It also makes up more than 30% of Japan’s power.
Financial implications
A G7-backed push to close coal-fired power plants in emerging markets is struggling to gain traction. A deal on the early shutdown of coal power plants in South Africa remains elusive and hope for proof of concept has turned to Indonesia’s 660 megawatt Cirebon-1 plant. However, a July deadline for a closure deal has been missed and, as in Indonesia report, there is considerable wariness about the legal and financial implications of an early shutdown.
