List of active coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom

There is currently one active coal-fired power station operating in the United Kingdom, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire. It has a total generating capacity of 2 GW; however one unit has been put into a preservation state prior to the plant's decommissioning, thereby reducing the generating capacity to 1.5 GW.

Phase-out of coal in the United Kingdom

In November 2015, the UK Government announced that all the remaining fourteen coal-fired power stations would be closed by 2025. In November 2017 the UK Government co-founded the Powering Past Coal Alliance. In June 2021, the government said it would end coal power by October 2024.

The United Kingdom had continuously burned coal for the generation of electricity since the opening of Holborn Viaduct power station in 1882. On 21 April 2017, for the first time since 1882, the GB grid had a 24-hour period without any generation from coal power. In May 2019 the GB grid went its first full week without any coal power. In May 2020 the GB grid beat the previous record and did not use coal generation for over a month.

At present, the use of coal power is decreasing to historic lows not seen since before the Industrial Revolution. Coal supplied just over 1% of UK electricity in 2023, down from 30% in 2014. In 2020, coal produced 4.4 TWh of electricity and Britain went 5,202 hours free from coal electricity generation, up from 3,665 hours in 2019 and 1,856 in 2018.

List of active power stations

See also

• List of active gas fired power stations in the United Kingdom
• List of electricity interconnectors in the United Kingdom
• Coal mining in the United Kingdom

References