The UK helped usher in the coal era — now its closing its last remaining plant

By the end of the month, the UK is expected to close its last operating coal-fired power station.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire is due to close on September 30, marking the end of coal-fired power in the UK. This will end an era of dirty energy that the UK helped usher in around the world and which it must now leave behind to meet its climate targets.

The coal-fired power plant began operations in 1967 and received its last shipment of coal in June. The 2,000-megawatt plant can produce enough electricity for around two million homes, according to Uniper, the energy company that owns it. In its decades of operation, it has generated enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea, or around one billion cups a day, Uniper says.

Nevertheless, it will reportedly take two years to dismantle the power plant after it closes. Until then, 125 employees will have to stay on board. Uniper announced plans last year to eventually produce hydrogen instead of coal-fired power at the site. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen does not cause climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions when burned.

The caveat is that most hydrogen today is produced through a process called steam methane reforming, which still results in greenhouse gas emissions. A cleaner way to produce hydrogen is electrolysis, which uses renewable energy to split water molecules. Uniper says it is interested in producing hydrogen through electrolysis at the former coal-fired power plant, reaching a capacity of 500 megawatts by the end of the decade. After transforming the site to produce low-carbon energy, Uniper says it could create up to 8,000 jobs.

Coal still accounts for more than a third of the world's electricity mix and generates more electricity and greenhouse gas emissions than any other fuel. But coal-fired power generation in the UK has fallen dramatically since 2012, from almost 40 percent to just 1 percent of the UK's electricity mix by 2023. Greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector have fallen by 74 percent over the same period as wind and solar power have replaced coal.

Britain passed a climate change law in 2008 that calls for the phase-out of the coal industry to achieve a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Following the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, the UK will be the first advanced economy and G7 nation to phase out coal power, according to climate think tank E3G.