Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, UK. Credit: Anne Coatesy via Shutterstock.

The UK will only run one coal-fired power plant this winter after Drax on Wednesday scrapped proposals to keep open two units at its plant in North Yorkshire as backups in case of power shortages.

The company confirmed in a statement that “the decommissioning of its two remaining coal units at Drax Power Station [in Yorkshire] will continue and that they will not be available to generate power this winter”. It cited a combination of technical, maintenance and staffing reasons for the decision.

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The UK power major had been in discussions with the National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) to explore the possibility of extending coal power generation this year but concluded that this “was not possible”.

The ESO was in talks with French nuclear giant EDF about extending the service of its Nottinghamshire West Burton A coal-fired plant ahead of this winter, but the company similarly rejected proposals and chose to move ahead with plans to close the plant.

With these coal plants ruled out for emergency power, the only plant left available for that this winter will be the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant, also located in Nottinghamshire and owned by German utility Uniper.

Last winter, the ESO spent approximately £400m keeping the Drax, EDF and Uniper plants on standby. UK Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said earlier this year that it would be “crazy” not to have the plants on standby again this coming winter, according to the Guardian.

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In early March this year, the ESO called on two reserve coal units at EDF’s West Burton plant to tackle anticipated electricity shortages as the country emerged from a cold winter. Contracting coal plants to provide backup power has become part of the government’s plan to prevent power cuts, as the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent disruptions to energy supplies continue to threaten European energy security.

More reliance on coal power could cause problems for the government’s coal phase-out plans after it pledged in June 2021 to end all electricity generation from coal by October 2024. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant is currently expected to stay open until September 2024.