Ratcliffe-on-Soar Coal Power Station for Sunday Times Magazine

The Ratcliffe-On-Soar power station first came online in 1968. For the past 56 years it has been an integral part of British energy production. Thirty-five years ago about 80 per cent of the UK electricity grid was powered by coal, as of 2014 coals share of the energy mix reduced to less than 1 per cent. This was partly due to competition from gas; emissions restrictions brought in have made it uneconomical to run coal compared to the likes of gas because it emits about twice as much carbon dioxide as its counterpart. But in its heyday, and running at maximum capacity, the power station could produce 2ooo megawatts or the equivalent power for 2 million homes. It has proved useful as a backup for the grid with the boilers able to be brought online within four hours to help meet demand. Some use this fact to criticize its closing as it could, at least for the short term, leave us more vulnerable to energy shortfalls. The recent war in Ukraine certainly has had some effects; firstly constricting coal imports from Ukraine itself, followed by restrictions on gas imports from Russia.

Elsewhere other countries are still even building new coal power stations; China built the equivalent of 24 Ratcliffes in 2023 alone. Nevertheless if we are to hit new green energy targets in the UK then it’s closing is something the country has to contend with even though doing so brings the end to a chapter for British industrial history. Of course with the end of one chapter, there is the starting of another and although it has yet to be decided as to what will take its physical space, there is hope that something more sustainable to can be born out of the ashes.

Being asked to go and photograph this for the Sunday Times Magazine was a real honour and a joy – documenting something that will soon be gone is in many ways one of the  greatest applications of documentary photography; it felt a real privilege to be photographing the end of an icon. If you would like to read more please find the full article written by Jon Yeomans here.