The UK’s last coal-fired power station will close its doors for the final time today 30 September – ending over 140 years of coal-fired generation in the UK.
Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Rushcliffe, which started generating power in 1967, will officially end generation at midnight on Monday 30 September – marking a key milestone in the UK’s journey to cleaner power. Employees are now completing their final shifts before the plant closes this evening after almost six decades of generation.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station powered 2 million homes
Over the years Ratcliffe has played a key role in keeping the nation’s lights on.
Since commissioning it has produced enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea and its 2GW capacity is enough to power two million homes. And its eight iconic 114-metre-high cooling towers are a key part of the East Midlands skyline.
Uniper CEO Michael Lewis said:
“For me, Ratcliffe has always been more than just a power station, it has been a pillar of the UK’s energy security for decades.
“Built during a time when coal was the backbone of industrial progress, Ratcliffe powered over two million homes and businesses-equivalent to the entire East Midlands region.
“It played a crucial role in boosting economic growth and supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people.
“This will be the first time since 1882 that coal has not powered Great Britain. As we close this chapter, we honor Ratcliffe’s legacy and the people working here, while embracing the future of cleaner and flexible energy.
“In this context, Uniper aims to invest in technologies like CCS, Renewables and hydrogen. The goal is to decarbonise our remaining power assets and to deliver low carbon fuel as well as green and reliable energy to our customers.”
Minister for Energy, Michael Shanks MP from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, will be visiting the site to attend a closure event, to mark this historic moment.
Shanks will have the chance to meet employees, learn about the station’s history and visit the famous cooling towers just hours after it ceases operations.
Countdown to closure
Ratcliffe’s countdown to closure began in 2015 when the Government announced plans to end UK coal power generation over the next decade, finally confirming the October 2024 end date in 2020.
Since then, there have been a series of poignant “last moments”.
In January this year, all four of Ratcliffe’s 500MW units ran together for the last time.
In June, the last delivery of coal by train arrived, carrying the final 1,650 tonnes shipment from the port of Immingham to the site, and the occasion was marked with a locomotive officially named ‘Ratcliffe Power Station’.
The closure is a time of mixed emotions for the team.
Peter O’Grady, Plant Manager at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station said:
“It is an emotional day for me as well as for the team. When I started my career 36 years ago, none of us imaged a future without coal generation in our lifetimes. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together over the years and to be part of this energy milestone as the country focuses on a cleaner energy future.”
For its 170 Uniper employees the site is more than just a workplace.
Many have spent their entire careers here, with some retiring as the station closes. And many have been working alongside friends, relatives and neighbours over the years. Every effort is being made to support the employees on site, in finding suitable redeployment opportunities within the wider Uniper group, and several measures have been put in place to support colleagues who are leaving the business. For those not able to secure an alternative role, they will leave the business within one of three redundancy windows.
Investments in technical advancements and modifications over the years enabled Ratcliffe to seamlessly switch from delivering baseload power to more flexible power generation, responding to requests to generate power for the national grid, as and when needed. This and work to reduce the station’s environmental emissions have enabled it to be the last coal plant standing in the UK.
Ratcliffe power station is the only coal-fired plant in the UK to be fitted with a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) emission control facility, capable of reducing NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions by 70-95%.
It is also equipped with a Flue-Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant to remove sulphur dioxide (SO2) from the exhaust flue gases before they enter the atmosphere. With both SCR and FGD technology installed, Ratcliffe could meet the environmental standards in the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
Following closure, the site will go through a decommissioning process, which is expected to last around two years, before the site can be handed over to a demolition contractor.
Mike Lockett, Uniper UK Country Chair said:
“Ratcliffe power station has played a key role in keeping the lights on over the past 57 years, and now we look to what could be the future for the site. As we mark the end of coal generation for Uniper in the UK, I’d like to thank all our colleagues, past and present who have worked hard to keep the power station delivering reliable power generation through the decades.”
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station facts and figures
• Ratcliffe occupies a site of approximately 270ha on the A453 adjacent to the East Midlands Parkway railway station.
• Approx 350 Uniper colleagues and contractors work on site. During an outage, this can be as many as 600 people.
• Construction started in 1963.
• The first unit was operational in 1967, with the plant fully commissioned in 1970, providing power for 57 years. Dates that each unit was commissioned: Unit 1 – 16/12/67, Unit 2 – 18/09/68, Unit 3 – 30/01/69, Unit 4 – 17/10/70.
• Ratcliffe has a 2GW generation capacity, which is capable of producing enough electricity to power more than two million homes, (roughly the whole of the East Midlands).
• Power sent out to the national grid since 1967 has produced enough energy to make more than 1 billion cups of tea per day and over 21 trillion overall (up to 2024).
• Ratcliffe has had approx. 141,768 coal deliveries by rail since 1967. The last coal shipment took place on 28 June 2024. GB Rail Freight named one of its locomotives after Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.
• A typical train can deliver up to 15000 tonnes to the power station. At our peak we would receive over 20 trains a day.
• Ratcliffe was the only coal-fired plant in the UK to be fitted with a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) emission control facility, capable of reducing NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions by 70-95%.
• Ratcliffe has eight cooling towers which stand at height of 114m with a diameter of 87m at the base and 55m at the summit.
• The walls of each tower are approximately seven inches thick and are constructed from reinforced draught concrete.
Decommissioning will start in October 2024 for the main coal fired units.
Decommissioning will remove hazards from each plant area before handing over for the next stage of the process. Hazards we will remove are bulk stored oils, chemicals and gases as well as removal of any bulk byproducts and wastes.
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