Last UK Coal Fuelled Power Station to Close

Ratcliffe-on Soar Power Station will finally close at the end of September.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c886qd2g80xo

Its cooling towers have been a feature around here for as long as I can remember (Built in the mid 1960's).

I once stood inside one of the towers in the early 1970's.

My Dad worked for the C.E.G.B (as a Shift Control Engineer) and gave me a tour of the station, including the control room, and inside one of the towers (the tower was undergoing maintenance at the time, so you could safely venture inside it).

I actually got to visit about 4 power stations in the East Midlands, plus the Nottingham Grid Control Centre (located in Clifton). The control centre was where I first learned computer programming (in Fortran) on their mainframe. I wrote some reports they used for a number of years.

[Pierre]

To be replaced by what? …..that’s the problem.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Pierre

To be replaced by what? …..that’s the problem.

As coal was used as source for 1% of our power in 2023 I think there’s a degree of over egging the pudding going on.

[Halcyon]

I've seen these cooling towers a lot whilst aircraft spotting at East Midlands Airport.
I think it will take a year or so before they get taken down.
Here are some photos I took a few years back...

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Paul

Ratcliffe-on Soar Power Station will finally close at the end of September.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c886qd2g80xo

Its cooling towers have been a feature around here for as long as I can remember (Built in the mid 1960's).

I once stood inside one of the towers in the early 1970's.

My Dad worked for the C.E.G.B (as a Shift Control Engineer) and gave me a tour of the station, including the control room, and inside one of the towers (the tower was undergoing maintenance at the time, so you could safely venture inside it).

I actually got to visit about 4 power stations in the East Midlands, plus the Nottingham Grid Control Centre (located in Clifton). The control centre was where I first learned computer programming (in Fortran) on their mainframe. I wrote some reports they used for a number of years.

My father worked for Parsons and commisioned the generators for this power station all those years ago.

Originally Posted by Pierre

To be replaced by what? …..that’s the problem.

Not really. We’ve almost entirely eliminated coal from our energy mix so we don’t use it for base load and we often don’t use it to cover exceptional demand either. Our baseload is covered by gas, nuclear and biomass. In future the balance will tip towards nuclear.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Chris

and biomass.

Oh yes, fuelling Drax, Wood pellets from North America, shipped over here to Liverpool and then onto Drax by diesel train to Yorkshire.


So Green.

Originally Posted by Pierre

Oh yes, fuelling Drax, Wood pellets from North America, shipped over here to Liverpool and then onto Drax by diesel train to Yorkshire.


So Green.

Unlike the coal, which from 2020 came from from countries including Russia, Australia, South Africa, Columbia and Poland?

[Mr K]

Eyesores, that have destroyed the planet.

Originally Posted by Pierre

Oh yes, fuelling Drax, Wood pellets from North America, shipped over here to Liverpool and then onto Drax by diesel train to Yorkshire.


So Green.

It isn’t. But it is what has replaced coal, and it is the lack of coal which you presented as causing a problem.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Unlike the coal, which from 2020 came from from countries including Russia, Australia, South Africa, Columbia and Poland?

I agree, we had, and still have, plentiful coal reserves.

---------- Post added at 12:14 ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

It isn’t. But it is what has replaced coal, and it is the lack of coal which you presented as causing a problem.

Like I say, there's no "lack of coal" just the lack of will to extract it.

Originally Posted by Pierre

Like I say, there's no "lack of coal" just the lack of will to extract it.

Well no, you didn’t mention coal reserves earlier, you implicitly criticised alternative energy sources in what you actually said, which was: ‘to be replaced by what … that’s the problem’.

So what is your actual complaint about the removal of coal from our electricity generation mix? Because your point seems to keep shifting.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Chris

Well no, you didn’t mention coal reserves earlier, you implicitly criticised alternative energy sources in what you actually said, which was: ‘to be replaced by what … that’s the problem’.

So what is your actual complaint about the removal of coal from our electricity generation mix? Because your point seems to keep shifting.

My actual complaint is the removal of stable, relatively cheap, energy. That is being replaced by not stable, relatively expensive energy.

Or in the case of biomas, being hoodwinked into thinking that importing wood pellets from North America is any greener that using coal from the UK.

Anyway, I take your point, I'm drifting away from the topic and into general energy policy.

Needless to say, it's obvious what side of that debate I'm on.

Originally Posted by Pierre

My actual complaint is the removal of stable, relatively cheap, energy. That is being replaced by not stable, relatively expensive energy.

Or in the case of biomas, being hoodwinked into thinking that importing wood pellets from North America is any greener that using coal from the UK.

Anyway, I take your point, I'm drifting away from the topic and into general energy policy.

Needless to say, it's obvious what side of that debate I'm on.

Thank you

The problem is, stable, cheap energy (coal) has raised global temperatures and continues to do so, with as-yet unknown consequences for human civilisation. Already, summer conditions in the UK have become less benign and predictable.

Acidification of rain in Scandinavia used to be a thing, which we were almost single-handedly responsible for, thanks to our industrial-scale burning of coal, but that has become a thing of the past.

It’s like an Asda smart price lasagne. You could eat it every night and thereby live on £5 a week, but should you?