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In 1882, the world’s first coal-fired power station opened on London’s Holborn Viaduct. This week, Britain’s last coal-fired station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in the East Midlands closemaking the home of the industrial revolution the first G7 country to end coal energy. The UK experience highlights lessons and difficulties for other developed countries (and, eventually, countries like the United States). YoIndia and China continue to add coal-fired plants, but have committed to reducing carbon emissions over the long term.
Britain’s path to coal-free electricity in the 21st century was eased by developments before the climate battle took off. The discovery of North Sea gas in the 1960s paved the way for the “gas rush” of the 1990s by newly privatized generators. Gas provided a lower-carbon bridge fuel that will power Britain until at least 2030. In the 1980s, Thatcher’s government closed dozens of UK coal mines after a tumultuous miners’ strike that lasted a long time. anus. The main argument was inefficiency, not ecological concerns, and the socioeconomic impacts are still felt today. But the coal producers were neutralized as an internal lobby, unlike what happened in Australia, the United States or Germany.
EU legislation (when Britain was a member) also played an important role, with a 2001 law aimed at curbing emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that cause acid rain and damage health. It forced large coal plants to invest in expensive equipment to remove pollutants or, by 2015, close. As developing countries are discovering, the polluting nature of coal means that demands for clean air dovetail with the climate fight.
But in Britain, both the Labor and Conservative governments deserve credit for setting long-term directions and backing them up with policies to stimulate renewable energy development, including putting a price on both air pollution and carbon carbon. The share of renewables in UK electricity has risen from just 14.6 per cent in 2013 to 51 percent last year.
UK electricity suppliers have been forced since 2002 to source an increasing proportion from renewable sources. “Contracts for difference” took over from 2017, with low-carbon generators subsidized if market electricity prices fall below an agreed supply price, but paying the state if the opposite happens. A carbon price floor set in 2013 also tipped the balance against coal. In 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron made a bold commitment to phase out coal generation within a decade, after being assured there would be enough alternative capacity to keep the lights on.
Critics suggest that the fact that UK industrial electricity prices have doubled in five years, placing them among the highest in the developed world last year, shows the folly of their actions. The reality is more complex. The rise in gas prices across Europe after Russia invaded Ukraine had a larger impact, with gas making up a larger proportion of the UK’s generation mix than, say, France or Germany, and its wholesale prices They are set by the most expensive source necessary to meet demand.
In 2022, the government launched a consultation on reforming the market to prevent volatile gas prices from pricing cheaper renewable sources. Doing so is vital to ensuring Britain remains competitive and reaps the benefits of its major shift to renewable energy.
Furthermore, the end of coal-fired power is just one milestone in an ongoing journey, not without risk, toward a carbon-neutral electricity system by 2030. Many fear the deadline is unattainable. However, it will help focus efforts on what is required, including ensuring that a grid that relies heavily on intermittent wind and solar power can balance supply and demand in real time, and building new transmission lines from locations often remote. Britain is not alone in facing such tasks. But given its history, as in 1882, the rest of the world will surely be watching closely.