LONDON: The UK’s last coal-fired power station officially closed its doors on Monday, making Britain the first G7 country to end its reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity.

The closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar, a power plant that has dominated the surrounding central England landscape for nearly 60 years, marks a symbolic step in the UK’s ambition to decarbonise electricity by 2030, and become carbon neutral by 2050. “The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning,” Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement.

The owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar factory, Uniper said the site will be put into a two-year decommissioning period beginning in October. The 350 Uniper employees and contractors that work at the site, will either be redeployed to other roles within the company or leave the business within three redundancy windows before the end of 2026, Uniper said.

In its place will be a new development — a “carbon-free technology and energy hub”, the company said. It marks the end of Britain’s 140-year dependence on coal as it becomes the first in the G7 of rich nations to do away entirely with coal power electricity.

Italy plans to do so by next year, France in 2027, Canada in 2030 and Germany in 2038. Japan and the United States have no set dates.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2024