Britain accelerates coal-fired power exit
Great Britain has brought forward its exit from coal-fired power generation by one year, to October 1, 2024, the government said June 30.
The move is part of ambitious government commitments to transition away from fossil fuels and decarbonise the power sector in order to eliminate contributions to climate change by 2050. "Today’s announcement confirms the intention set out by the prime minister last year to bring forward the deadline to end unabated coal-fired electricity generation." the government said.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
The UK, which is hosting the COP26 summit in Glasgow this year, is similarly calling on all nations to accelerate the phase out of coal power and it "will introduce new legislation to do this at the earliest opportunity," it said.
The UK has already pushed coal to the margins with its carbon floor price. Coal accounted for only 1.8% of the UK’s electricity mix in 2020, compared with 40% almost decade ago. At time of press it was accounting for 2% while gas wast about 42% and nuclear, the next biggest, at 14%.
Coal is despatchable unlike much renewable energy and there is plenty of it left in the UK, so ending its role in power generation might entail some risks to the economy and security of supply as well as grid stability.
But the minister for energy and climate change Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that while coal had "powered the industrial revolution 200 years ago," now is the time for "radical action to completely eliminate this dirty fuel from our energy system. The UK’s net zero [carbon] future will be powered by renewables, and it is this technology that will drive the green industrial revolution and create new jobs across the country."
The UK went 5,000 hours without coal-fired electricity in 2020, and earlier this year broke a new wind power record, The rise in the use of renewables thanks to competition, free enterprise and subsidies to kick start new technologies has in turn helped to drive down the cost of green energy, with coal power now more expensive in most countries.
In May, under the UK’s leadership, G7 climate and environment ministers agreed to end all new finance for coal power by the end of 2021 and to accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity and to an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s.