Britain’s last coal-fired power plant is closing (and successfully redeploys the workforce), ending 142 years of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in central England is finishing its final shift at midnight after more than half a century of turning coal into power. The U.K. government hailed the closure as a milestone in efforts to generate all of Britain’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.
The shutdown makes Britain the first country from the Group of Seven major economies to phase out coal — though some other European nations, including Sweden and Belgium, got there sooner.
The first coal-fired power station in the world, the Holborn Viaduct power station, was built in 1882 in London by the inventor Thomas Edison - bringing light to the streets of the capital.
Source: BBC
