UK ends coal power generation today after 142 years

Britain's last coal-fired power station is turning off the lamps today after proving energy for 58 years. It marks the end of a 142-year history: England was first to burn coal for power in 1882 and is the first major economy to move on from it.

This marks a major milestone in the country's ambitions to reduce its contribution to climate change. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel producing the most greenhouse gases when burnt. Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said: "We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country." …"It's a really remarkable day, because Britain, after all, built her whole strength on coal, that is the industrial revolution," said Lord Deben – the longest serving environment secretary.

The chart above shows the relative percentages, though "percentage of" charts are misleading for the obvious reason: a lot more power is being generated now than in 1920. The far left of the chart represents 2.5 GW in total energy capacity, and the UK now has an installed peak capacity of 160GW. I suspect the latter coal peak was the 1980s, which would be a reminder that the intentional destruction of that industry then by the Tories was an ideological crusade against those who worked in it rather than sound economic policy. The "not even wrong" kind of delusion that can now be revisioned as green policymaking by the worst people in politics.

UPDATE: Here's the chart I wanted, though it's 15 years old and ends before wind and solar took off.

The first "coal-free day" was in 2018:

Renewables accounted for more than half of it for the first time this year, though natural gas remains the baseline source and efforts to modernize nuclear power is a classic omnishambles. With the Tories finally out of government, wind power is likely to grow fast, especially onshore.

Previously: Wind curently Britain's largest energy source