UK demolishes one of last remaining coal plants

The UK demolished one of its last remaining coal-fired power stations on August 22 during a controlled explosion, with the government describing the event as a "symbolic moment" ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) that the UK will host in November.

The Ferrybridge C power station at Knottingley in West Yorkshire supplied 2mn homes with power at its peak capacity. But operator SSE closed down the facility in 2016, and demolition work began three years later. Alok Sharma, the UK's COP26 president, pushed a detonator button in a ceremony, turning the plant's two 200-m chimney stacks and a boiler house into rubble. 

"It is time for countries to set out clear plans to consign coal power to the history books and safeguard our planet for future generations," Sharma said in a statement. "The UK is moving fast towards a clean energy transition and the many new jobs in renewables, like those being created by SSE, demonstrate how many opportunities there are in our green industrial revolutions."

He described the moment as "symbolic," calling on the whole world to abandon coal in order to cap global temperature growth at 1.5°C. The UK itself is looking to phase out coal power by October 2024, after bringing the target forward by a year in June.

SSE is making a shift to lower-carbon electricity, earlier this month announcing the sale of its remaining 33.3% stake in UK gas distributor Scotia Gas Networks for $1.7bn, partly to raise funds for new clean energy investments. It plans to build a 1.8-GW hydrogen-fired power plant in the UK's Humber region and a 900-MW gas power project at Peterhead in Scotland equipped with carbon-capture equipment. It has also proposed a hydrogen storage facility in Yorkshire.