In another significant industrial move, the UK’s last coal power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in the Midlands finished its operations at the end of September.
This is the first time in 142 years that coal-fired power hasn’t contributed to the national grid.
The very first coal-fired power station was built in 1882 by Thomas Edison at Holburn Viaduct. From that point, and for many decades, coal-fired power became the main way of providing electricity to UK homes.
In 2015, when the government announced its plans to close coal plants as part of its plan to reach climate targets, coal was producing almost 30% of the UK’s electricity needs. This had fallen to 1% by last year and now has been completely phased out.
While clearly good news in the move to greener forms of energy that are more environmentally friendly, redundancies and the end of an industry that many may have been relying on for an income will cause concern for many.
This perhaps highlights the importance for all businesses to not be focused solely on the way they have always done things, but to be ready to adapt as new technologies and more environmentally friendly processes become available.