An aerial view of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station, near Nottingham in central England on September 19, 2024. | Photo: Getty Images
By the end of the month, the United Kingdom is set to shutter its last operating coal-fired power plant.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire is slated to close on September 30th, marking the end of coal power in the UK. It’s turning the page on an era of dirty energy that the UK helped usher in globally and now has to leave behind to meet climate goals.
The coal power plant was first commissioned in 1967, and received its last coal delivery in June. The 2,000 megawatt-capacity plant can produce enough electricity for some two million homes, according to the energy company Uniper that owns it. Over its decades in operation, it’s generated enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea, or roughly 1 billion…