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The UK has marked a milestone in its energy transition by closing Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottinghamshire, its last remaining coal-fired power station.
“This is the final chapter in the rapid transition from a country that started the Industrial Revolution,” said Phil MacDonald, managing director of global energy think tank Ember.
The world's first coal-fired power station opened in London in 1882, and as recently as 2012, coal powered 39% of the UK's electricity. However, Ember's data shows how this has declined rapidly in subsequent years, remaining at 2% or less as of 2019.
Ember's report, “The UK's journey to phase out coal power,” outlines five key factors that have accelerated the UK's exit from coal: announcing a 2025 coal phase-out a decade away, putting a price on carbon, supporting offshore wind, market changes to encourage renewable energy, and investing in the grid.
“The UK has offered both carrots and sticks,” said Phil MacDonald, managing director of Ember. “It is important to show that polluting sources have an expiration date, but also to provide an enabling environment for building a new clean energy system.”
The UK largely switched from coal to wind and solar, without relying more on electricity. The country is now on its way to a zero-emissions energy system by 2030.
Coal phasing out in the UK has brought many benefits, reducing both emissions and costs. The rapid decline in coal power since 2012 has avoided 880 million tonnes of emissions, equivalent to double the total emissions of the UK economy by 2023. Ember calculates that replacing coal with wind and solar has avoided an estimated £2.9 billion in costs.
The closure of the UK's last coal-fired power plant means that more than a third of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are now coal-free, and three-quarters are set to phase out coal power by 2030, in line with global climate targets. to reduce them. temperature up to 1.5C.
Coal now accounts for just 17% of electricity generation in OECD countries, down from 36% at its peak in 2007.
“It used to be a byword for coal power in industrial growth,” continued Mr MacDonald. “Now clean energy is boosting the economy – not just in high-income countries, but around the world.”
Read more: The world's only coal-to-nuclear plant just broke ground in Wyoming
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