Commenting prior to Theresa May’s recent speech on the environment, the Government said one of the UK’s eight remaining coal-fired power stations is expected to cease generating electricity this year, as it laid out plans that will force the eventual closure of all such plants.

While plants shut in 2016, and most are expected to halt operations by 2022, the ‘last ones standing’ will have to close by October 2025 because of new pollution standards.

According to a report in The Guardian, the plans reveal that the sector will continue to be propped up by “hundreds of millions of pounds in backup power subsidies for several years”, paid through consumers’ energy bills.

Industry experts have said that allowing ‘coal operators’ to continue receiving capacity market subsidies had thrown the sector an unnecessary lifeline.

Moreover, Ministers will also retain emergency powers to suspend the phase-out in the case of an emergency shortfall in electricity supplies, although it is reported that officials said it was unlikely that those powers would be called on, because “the gap created by the coal plants’ closure would probably be filled by old gas-fired power stations staying open longer.”

While no coal-fired power stations closed in 2017, the Government’s official assessment points out that a carbon tax and relatively low gas prices have hurt the profitability of coal plants, which is why it expects a major plant will close this year (with the loss of up to 250 jobs), followed by a further closure next year.

The Government predicts that last year’s coal capacity of 13.8GW will fall to 1.5GW by 2025, due to “unfavourable economics”.

Power generation from coal has fallen by more than 80% since 2012.