ENGIE confirms close of 1 GW UK coal plant

• 8 years ago (2016-05-26)

Europe 1068 North America 1004 Renewables 757

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The UK government has said that it intends to phase out unabated coal plants in the UK by 2025. However, many have already been closed early due to falling commodity prices and more renewables coming online. Rugeley has been generating electricity since 1970.

In the face of tight winter margins, there are coal plants that are staying alive by providing back-up power to the grid. Fiddler’s Ferry coal plant, which was due to close this summer, is set to remain open until March 2017 to provide back-up power to the grid next winter.

Furthermore, last week, Andy Koss, Drax Chief Executive, said to Bloomberg that he sees future revenues coming from Drax being the same sort of back-up deal that has so far kept Fiddler’s Ferry operational.

"Running a coal plant is becoming more of a challenge and you have to look more widely at the opportunities that are out there, or you start to look at mothball or closure," Koss said.

This month saw the first day in over a hundred years that the UK has not used any electricity derived from coal, as natural gas, wind and solar become more integrated into the country’s energy mix.