Britain's last coal-fired plants are disappearing fast

London

AFTER powering the British economy for centuries, coal is a dying breed in the nation's energy mix.

The combustible sedimentary rock accounted for as much as 40 per cent of the electricity generation only six years ago, but that figure dropped to 5 per cent last year. By the middle of the next decade, there won't be any plants left at all as the government plans to go completely coal free.

Though still the most widely used in the world to generate power, coal is to a large extent a victim of the plunging costs for wind and solar.

Only a few years ago, it was unfathomable to build an energy system without it. Now, an increasing number of governments, from the UK to Germany and the Netherlands, have set targets for its extinction to meet climate targets. Higher prices on emitting carbon pollution also are tipping the economics away the dirtiest fossil fuel.

On Monday, Electricite de France SA said it had turned off its Cottam plant, which was built in 1968 and supplied more than 3 million homes. That leaves just a handful of stations open, and they're due to close over the next few years.

The following are plants still going, in the order of when they are due to shut:

Even after all those coal power plants close, the UK will still use the fuel for industrial processes. The government in March approved the country's first deep coal mine in more than 30 years. The Woodhouse Colliery, in northwest England is expected to start producing met coal early next decade. BLOOMBERG