The UK is set to become the first G7 country to stop using coal to generate electricity, with the gates due to close on the country’s last coal-powered plant at the end of the month, the Financial Times reported.
It’s being seen as a key marker in the UK government’s efforts to decarbonise its electricity supplies by 2030, while also meeting growing electricity demand, the story continued, and puts the UK ahead of Germany which plans to switch off its coal power supply by 2038, Canada by 2030 and mainland Italy from the end of 2025.
Coal supplied 80% of the UK’s electricity in 1990 but only 1% last year, when 34.7% came from gas, 32.8% from wind and solar, 11.6% from bioenergy, and 13.8% from nuclear, the report went on.
The closure of the Nottinghamshire power station comes with the UK set to become far more power-hungry as households and businesses switch to electric cars and heat pumps, which is expected to see demand more than double by 2050.
Read the full story: The Financial Times
- By Sean O’Meara
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