The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out

The UK officially entered a coal-free power era on 1 October 2024 with the closure of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant. This transition saw power sector emissions drop by 74% between 2012 and 2023, driven by a combination of carbon pricing, renewable energy growth, and grid investment. The report argues that while the coal phase-out provides a roadmap, the next goal of clean power by 2030 will require a more complex whole-systems approach to displace gas and manage grid stability.

• The UK achieved a coal-free power sector on 1 October 2024, following the closure of the final coal plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, at midnight on 30 September 2024.
• Coal's share of UK electricity generation declined rapidly from nearly 40% in 2012 to zero by October 2024, with 15 plants closing or switching fuels since 2012.
• Power sector emissions decreased by 74% from 160 MtCO2e in 2012 to 41 MtCO2e in 2023, avoiding a total of 880 MtCO2e during the coal decline.
• The phase-out was driven by the growth of wind and solar, which quadrupled generation from 21 TWh in 2012 to 96 TWh by the end of 2023, increasing their share of electricity from 6% to 34%.
• Five primary policy drivers enabled the transition: stringent decarbonisation targets (Climate Change Act), a rising minimum carbon price, support for offshore wind (Contracts for Difference), market reforms (Capacity Market), and grid investment.
• The UK government aims for a clean power system by 2030, which involves doubling onshore wind, tripling solar, and quadrupling offshore wind to reduce gas generation to below 2% of the mix.
• Future decarbonisation of the power sector will require a 'whole-systems approach' to replace the balancing functions of gas plants, specifically through the rapid growth of battery storage, with a target of 10 GWh by 2030.
• Grid constraints are currently delaying renewable projects, leading to planned investments such as a £3.4 billion offshore connection between Scotland and England and a total of £10 billion in grid expansion by National Grid.

APA

Mayo, F. (2024). The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-uks-journey-to-a-coal-power-phase-out

Chicago

Mayo, Frankie. The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out. Ember, 2024. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-uks-journey-to-a-coal-power-phase-out.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mayo |first1=Frankie |title=The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out |publisher=Ember |date=20 September 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-uks-journey-to-a-coal-power-phase-out |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mayo2024uks, author = {Mayo, Frankie}, title = {{The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-uks-journey-to-a-coal-power-phase-out}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }