Last coal power station in UK shuts down, brings coal era to end after 143 years

After nearly 143 years of power generation, the era of coal in the United Kingdom has drawn to a close, with the 2GW Ratcliffe-on-Soar facility in the East Midlands officially ceasing operations at midnight on Monday UK time.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant, located in Nottinghamshire and operated by German energy company Uniper, officially ceased operations at 9am AEST on Tuesday, bringing to an end an era that began when the Edison Electric Light Station was began operating in January of 1882.

Coal has been on a long and torturous slump in the UK, however, slipping from prominence and an 80 per cent share of generation in 1990 as a combination of government policy and financial incentives drove the growth of renewable energy. Over the last two decades, coal-free days in the UK became increasingly common.

This was hastened in 2015 when the government announced plans to end UK coal power generation over the following decade, and October 2024 being announced as the end date in 2020.

“The UK was the first country to build a coal fired power station. It is right that it is the first major economy to exit coal power,” said Ed Matthew, from climate change think tank E3G.

“This is true global leadership, lighting the path for other countries to follow. The UK will now focus on rapidly eliminating unabated gas from its power system and oil from transport. The clean energy revolution is in full swing and the prize will be cheaper, more secure and less polluting power and a chance to end the climate crisis.”

Since it was commissioned in 1967, Ratcliffe-on-Soar has produced enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea, generated enough to power two million homes, but it has also been one of the country’s biggest emitters, releasing 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2023 alone.

Scientists have found carbon dioxide on Pluto’s largest moon – offering clues about how it formed

In the outer reaches of our Solar System, 5.7 billion kilometres from the Sun, lies the dwarf planet Pluto. Smaller than Australia, it is an icy world of mountains, glaciers and craters where the average temperature is –232°C.

Five moons orbit Pluto – Styx, Nix, Kerberos, Hydra and Charon. Of these, Charon is the largest. Unlike most other planetary systems, it exists in a “binary system” with its parent body, meaning they both orbit a point in space between the two.

Much mystery still surrounds Pluto and its moons. But in new research published in Nature Communications today, a team led by astronomer Silvia Protopapa from the Southwest Research Institute in the United States announced they’ve found carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on Charon’s surface.

The findings, based on data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, offer vital clues about how our favourite not-planet/planet system was formed.