United Kingdom to Phase Out Coal-Fired Power by 2025

November 18, 2015 – The British government today announced it intends to shutter all coal-fired power plants by 2025. Alternative energy sources will need to be built including nuclear and natural-gas to supplement renewable sources. Today about one-third of the energy generated in the United Kingdom comes from 12 coal-fired sources that are close to 50 years old.

The government is seeking proposals from the public in making the transition to less carbon-intensive power generation. The announcement comes in light of Drax, the British utility’s September announcement that it was stopping further investment in its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project once completed. Drax expects to close its coal-fired units in 2023. Another British energy provider, the German company, E.ON, expects to continue to operate its 2 Gigawatt coal-fired power plant which has built-in carbon pollution abatement technology.

The United Kingdom’s government has set a legally binding carbon dioxide emissions reduction target of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. In this past September Britain produced 25% of its energy from wind, solar and bioenergy, surpassing coal for the first time. Gas-fired power stations produced 30%, nuclear 21.5% and coal 20.5%.

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