[News]Completely abolish coal-fired power plants in the UK, the birthplace of the industrial revolution | Japan Beyond Coal Eliminate coal-fired power plants by 2030

On September 30, 2024, the last coal-fired power station in the UK, the birthplace of coal-fired power generation, ceased operation. The world’s first coal-fired power station was built in London by inventor Edison in 1882, marking the end of a 142-year history of coal-fired power.

Each country is proceeding with the gradual reduction of coal-fired power generation, which emits particularly large amounts of carbon dioxide (C02). ) The Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting agreed to phase out coal-fired power generation without measures to reduce CO2 emissions by 2035. This will be the first time in the G7 that the UK will completely phase out coal-fired power.

Britain’s last coal-fired power plant

Britain’s last coal-fired power station was Ratcliffe-on-Soar, near Nottingham in central England. Operated by German energy giant Uniper, construction began in 1963 and operations began in 1967, providing electricity for 57 years. It had a power generation capacity of four 500MW units for a total of 2,000MW (2GW), and featured eight cooling towers 114 meters high, with a diameter of 87 meters at the bottom and a diameter of 55 meters at the top.UniperAccording to , the decommissioning work after the power plant’s closure will take two years, and once the decommissioning process is complete, it will be handed over to a demolition contractor and the facilities on the approximately 270ha site will be demolished.

In 2015, the UK announced plans to limit the use of coal-fired power by 2023 and close all coal-fired power stations by 2025.announcementAt that time, approximately 30% of electricity was provided by coal. About 9 years have passed since then. According to a release from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), coal demand by power producers in the UK in the second quarter of 2024, just before coal-fired power stations are phased out, was 135,000 tonnes, which is higher than the same period last year. Although it exceeded the previous period by 6.6%, the proportion of coal-fired power generation in total power generation was less than 1%.

percentage of electricity supply

The UK has been increasing its share of renewable energy, including the construction of large-scale offshore wind farms. In 2023, coal-fired power accounted for just 1.3% of electricity supply, compared to 32.9% for wind and solar power, 1.9% for hydropower, and 11.6% for other renewable energies. The total of these renewable energies is 46.4%, which exceeds the total of 39.7% of fossil fuels (34.7% gas, 3.7% oil and others, 1.3% coal). This expansion of renewable energy is leading to the phasing out of coal-fired power plants.

source:UK ENERGY IN BRIEF 2024

Coal-fired power generation is progressing in countries other than the UK

The UK was the first G7 member to phase out coal-fired power, but other countries are also steadily phasing out coal.

In Italy, the energy minister has pledged to phase out coal-fired power generation by the end of 2025, with the exception of Sardinia. The use of coal for power generation in Sardinia is also scheduled to end between 2026 and 2028.
France has postponed the retirement of its two remaining coal-fired power plants from 2024 to 2027, but according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal-fired power will account for 2.6% of total power generation in 2023. The Energy Energy Initiative, which outlines key 10-year goals for phasing out dependence on fossil fuels, including phasing out coal use in the power sector by 2027; We are promoting a climate strategy.
In Canada, coal-fired power remains in four provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia), but all four provinces have a plan to phase out or reduce CO2 emissions from coal by 2030. We promise to collect everything.
Germany has announced that it will confirm whether it is possible to bring forward the scheduled retirement dates for coal-fired power plants by three years in 2026, 2029, and 2032. We believe that it can be abolished. In fact, it has been reported that a total of seven coal-fired power plants with an installed capacity of 3.1 GW will be phased out by the end of March this year, and the country is steadily moving forward with the phase-out of coal-fired power.

Japan should also fulfill its role as a member of the G7.

The closure of coal-fired power generation is clearly showing in the reduction of UK GHG emissions. In the process of setting a net zero goal by 2050, we are also focusing on expanding renewable energy (renewable energy) with the aim of decarbonizing the electric power sector.

Since the G7 countries account for a small proportion of the world’s power generation, they are highly dependent on coal-fired power, and some say that the effect of reducing emissions will be small unless China and India, which have large emissions, move away from coal-fired power. . However, since coal-fired power generation has higher emissions per unit of power generation than other fuels, it is essential to first reduce coal-fired power generation. In order to advance decarbonization in electricity, G7 countries must take the lead in rapidly shifting to renewable energy. The UK’s move away from coal is part of a rapid shift towards a global move away from coal.

Even among developed countries, Japan, which has a high dependence on coal-fired power at around 30%, has not set a target date for abolishing coal-fired power. When will Japan, which continues to cling to coal, begin to substantially reduce its coal-fired power generation?

★Message from the British Ambassador to Japan

Britain closed its last coal-fired power station yesterday.

Check out the ambassador’s message for our future👇 pic.twitter.com/lnPDWZ6epq

— 🇬🇧UK in Japan🇯🇵 (@UKinJapan) October 1, 2024