Britain’s farewell to the power of King Coal

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In 1882, the world’s first coal-burning power plant opened at London’s Holborn Viaduct. This week, Britain’s last coal-fired station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in the East Midlands shut down, making the home of the industrial revolution the first G7 country to end coal power. The UK’s experience highlights lessons, and pitfalls, for other developed countries — and over time for the likes of India and China, still adding coal-fired plants but committed to cutting carbon emissions long term.

Britain’s 21st-century path to zero-coal electricity was eased by events before the climate battle took off. The discovery of North Sea gas in the 1960s opened the way for the 1990s “dash for gas” by newly privatised generators. Gas provided a lower carbon emission bridging fuel that will supply Britain until at least 2030. In the 1980s, the Thatcher government closed dozens of UK coal mines after a tumultuous, year-long miners’ strike. Inefficiency, not green concerns, was the main argument, and the socio-economic impacts are still felt today. But coal producers were neutralised as a domestic lobby, unlike in Australia, the US or Germany.

EU legislation — while Britain was a member — played a part too, with a 2001 law aimed at curbing emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that cause acid rain and harm health. It forced big coal-burning plants to invest in expensive kit to remove pollutants or, by 2015, shut down. As developing countries are finding, coal’s polluting nature means demands for clean air dovetail with the climate fight.

But in Britain, Labour and Conservative governments alike deserve credit for setting long-term directions and backing them with policies to spur development of renewable energy — including putting a price on both air pollution and the carbon in coal. Renewables’ share of UK electricity has jumped from only 14.6 per cent as late as 2013 to 51 per cent last year.

UK electricity suppliers were from 2002 obliged to source an increasing share from renewable sources. “Contracts for difference” took over from 2017, with low-carbon generators subsidised if market electricity prices drop below an agreed supply price, but paying the state if the opposite happens. A carbon floor price set in 2013 also tilted the balance against coal. Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015 boldly committed to phase out coal generation within a decade, after being assured there would be sufficient alternative capacity to keep the lights on.

Critics suggest the fact that UK industrial electricity prices have doubled in five years, putting them among the highest in the developed world last year, shows the folly of its actions. The reality is more complex. Surging Europe-wide gas prices after Russia invaded Ukraine had a bigger impact since gas forms a higher share of the UK generating mix than in, say, France or Germany — and its wholesale prices are set by the most costly source needed to cover demand.

The government in 2022 launched a consultation on reforming the market to stop volatile gas prices setting the price for cheaper renewable sources. Doing so is vital to ensure Britain remains competitive and derives the benefit of its great shift to renewables.

The end of coal-fired power is, moreover, only a milestone on a continuing journey — not without risk — to a carbon-neutral power system by a target of 2030. Many fear the deadline is unattainable. Yet it will help to focus efforts on what is required, including ensuring that a grid heavily reliant on intermittent wind and solar power can balance supply and demand in real time, and building new transmission lines from often remote locations. Britain is not alone in confronting such tasks. But given its history, as in 1882, the rest of the world will surely be watching closely.