EDF Energy has shut down Cottam power station in Nottinghamshire.
Since it started generating in 1968, EDF states the 2GW power station had burnt some 183m tonnes of coal to generate 500 terawatt hours of electricity across 1.1m generation hours.
Around 140 people currently work at the site.
Cottam’s plant manager Andy Powell, who joined the site as an apprentice, said: “Since the official announcement of the site’s closure earlier in the year we have been working with the Cottam team to ensure they secure the right future for them.”
According to the company, some will work on the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. Others will work at West Burton A coal station which has capacity market contracts to operate until September 2021, or at West Burton B Combined Cycle Gas Turbine station which started operating in 2013.
The UK’s remaining coal plants are set to shut down over the next few years.
RWE will close the 1.56GW Aberthaw B in March, while SSE’s 1.5GW Fiddler’s Ferry is set to close at the same time.
The closures will leave Uniper’s 2GW Ratcliffe on Soar, Drax’s remaining coal units (1.3GW) and EDF’s 2GW West Burton A plants as the last standing GB coal stations.
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