Britain Demolished Its Backup: 34 GW of Reliable Power Gone While China Built 1,052 GW of Coal

Britain closed 33.9 GW of coal and oil plant from 21 stations now demolished, being pulled down, or otherwise taken off the grid. In the same years China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal, about 31 times as much. When transmission-metered wind averaged just 0.60 GW on 8 November, the grid leaned on gas and paid emergency prices.
Photo: Isaac Bee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Travis Cook, The Great Climate Con. The original station list was first set out by Tony Brown (@agbdrilling) on 9 November 2026. The totals below expand that list with the other coal and oil stations named in this article, using verified nameplate figures.

They blew up the power stations that could be called on when the wind dropped, one cooling tower at a time. China watched, and kept building. The contrast was laid out in a post by Tony Brown (@agbdrilling) on 9 November. The original list of 19 coal and oil stations, now demolished or still being pulled down, comes to 32.2 GW. Adding the two remaining coal units at Drax, closed in 2021, and Uskmouth B, last fired in 2017, brings the Great Britain total already off the grid to 33.9 GW, from 21 stations. In the same years, 2006 to 2025, China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal, about 31 times as much. This week showed what that choice costs. On 8 November, Britain’s transmission-metered wind averaged just 0.60 GW, about a tenth of the 14-day average. The next morning the system operator issued an Electricity Margin Notice, then cancelled it. That evening, the Telegraph reported gas plants being paid around £1,500/MWh to hold the margin. The lights stayed on. The bill did not stay ordinary.

The stations

34 GW of reliable plant taken off the grid

Demolished (15 stations)
0 GW
Closed, still demolishing (4)
0 GW
Total off-grid capacity
0 GW
China commissioned (2006 to 2025)
0 GW
From Cockenzie in East Lothian to Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, the stations on the original list have been closed and, in most cases, demolished. Fifteen of those are already down: 17.0 GW of coal and 7.7 GW of oil, 24.7 GW in all. Four more, another 7.5 GW, are already off the grid and still being demolished. That includes the last coal plant in the country. Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar, 2,000 MW, ended generation on 30 September 2024. Britain now has no operating coal-fired power stations. These are nameplate figures, the right unit for how much reliable plant was taken down. They are not what each station was putting out in its last winters, and they are not the same as a NESO de-rated margin. The 33.9 GW headline total is the original 19 stations, plus Drax’s two remaining coal units (1,320 MW, commercial generation ended in March 2021) and Uskmouth B in Newport (363 MW, last coal in April 2017). Lynemouth in Northumberland (420 MW, last coal in December 2015, converted in 2018) and four of Drax’s six units (2,640 MW, converted between 2013 and 2018) left the coal fleet, but they were converted to biomass, were not demolished, and are still generating. Kilroot in County Antrim closed 560 MW of coal plant on 30 September 2023, with gas generation later built on the same site; it sits on the Northern Ireland system, not the Great Britain grid, and is listed separately. High Marnham (1,000 MW) and Drakelow C (1,075 MW) were later demolished, but both closed in 2003, before the 2006 to 2025 window used for the China comparison, so they are not in the 33.9 GW total. Closure came years before the chimneys fell. Kingsnorth stopped in 2012. Cockenzie, Didcot A and Tilbury B stopped in 2013. Cottam, the last of the ten demolished coal stations on the original list, closed in September 2019; its eight cooling towers were brought down together on 14 August 2025. Some of the oil plant had barely been used for a long time. Inverkip last generated in January 1988 and was decommissioned in 2006, before demolition in 2010 to 2013. Richborough closed in 1996; its towers came down in 2012 and the turbine hall in 2016. They were still dispatchable capacity, removed rather than replaced like-for-like. Didcot B, the gas station next to the demolished Didcot A, is still running. At Grain, only the 1,320 MW oil station was demolished; a gas station on the same site is still operational. Ironbridge B and Aberthaw B had co-fired or converted toward biomass before they closed. They are on the list because they were built as coal plant and belong to the same lost dispatchable fleet. Aberthaw B was largely demolished during 2026.

The 25 stations (nameplate capacity)

Cockenzie, East Lothian
Coal 1,200 MW
Closed: 2013
Demolished: 2015
Kingsnorth, Kent
Coal 2,000 MW
Closed: 2012
Demolished: 2014 to 2018
Tilbury B, Essex
Coal 1,428 MW
Closed: 2013
Demolished: 2016 to 2019
Didcot A, Oxfordshire
Coal and oil 2,000 MW
Closed: 2013
Demolished: 2014 to 2020
Ironbridge B, Shropshire
Coal (later biomass) 1,000 MW
Closed: 2015
Demolished: By 2021
Rugeley B, Staffordshire
Coal 1,000 MW
Closed: 2016
Demolished: By 2021
Longannet, Fife
Coal 2,400 MW
Closed: 2016
Demolished: By 2021
Ferrybridge C, West Yorkshire
Coal 2,034 MW
Closed: 2016
Demolished: By 2022
Eggborough, North Yorkshire
Coal 1,960 MW
Closed: 2018
Demolished: By 2022
Cottam, Nottinghamshire
Coal 2,000 MW
Closed: 2019
Demolished: 2021 to 2026
Inverkip, Inverclyde
Oil 2,028 MW
Closed: Last generated 1988; decommissioned 2006
Demolished: 2010 to 2013
Grain (oil station), Kent
Oil 1,320 MW
Closed: 2012
Demolished: 2014 to 2016
Richborough, Kent
Oil (later Orimulsion) 336 MW
Closed: 1996
Demolished: Towers 2012; turbine hall 2016
Littlebrook D, Kent
Oil 1,980 MW
Closed: 2015
Demolished: 2019
Fawley, Hampshire
Oil 2,000 MW
Closed: 2013
Demolished: 2019 to 2023
West Burton A, Nottinghamshire
Coal 2,000 MW
Closed: 2023
Demolished: Under demolition
Aberthaw B, Vale of Glamorgan
Coal 1,560 MW
Closed: 2020
Demolished: Largely demolished in 2026
Fiddler’s Ferry, Cheshire
Coal 1,989 MW
Closed: 2020
Demolished: Under demolition
Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire
Coal 2,000 MW
Closed: 30 September 2024
Demolished: Under demolition
Lynemouth, Northumberland
Coal, converted to biomass 420 MW
Closed: Last coal December 2015; converted 2018
Demolished: Converted, not demolished. Still generating
Drax (4 units), North Yorkshire
Coal, converted to biomass 2,640 MW
Closed: Converted 2013 to 2018
Demolished: Converted, not demolished. Still generating
Drax (2 coal units), North Yorkshire
Coal 1,320 MW
Closed: Commercial generation ended March 2021
Demolished: Standing. Coal units decommissioned
Uskmouth B, Newport
Coal 363 MW
Closed: Mothballed 2014; last coal April 2017
Demolished: Decommissioned. Main station standing
Kilroot, County Antrim
Coal and oil 560 MW
Closed: 30 September 2023
Demolished: Coal units closed. Gas plant on the same site, not demolished
High Marnham, Nottinghamshire
Coal 1,000 MW
Closed: 2003
Demolished: 2004 to 2012
Drakelow C, Derbyshire
Coal 1,075 MW
Closed: 31 March 2003
Demolished: 2005 to 2006

Main total, Great Britain, 2006 to 2025, closed and off the grid: 33.9 GW (the original 19 stations, plus Drax’s two remaining coal units and Uskmouth B). A further 3.1 GW was converted to biomass and is still generating (Lynemouth 420 MW and four Drax units 2,640 MW). Kilroot in Northern Ireland closed 560 MW of coal plant in 2023; it is on a separate grid. High Marnham (1,000 MW) and Drakelow C (1,075 MW) were later demolished, but both closed in 2003, before the 2006 to 2025 comparison period, and are not in the 33.9 GW total.

China

China built 1,052 GW of new coal

Bar chart: Britain closed 34 GW of coal and oil plant, 2006 to 2025, while China built 1,052 GW of new coal.
Chart credit: UK total is 33.9 GW nameplate of coal and oil plant in Great Britain closed and taken off the grid, 2006 to 2025 (the original 19 stations, plus Drax’s two remaining coal units and Uskmouth B). It does not include biomass conversions still generating, Kilroot in Northern Ireland, or stations that closed before 2006. China figure is new coal capacity commissioned, 2006 to 2025, units of 30 MW and larger. Gross additions, not net of retirements. Data: UK station records (Wikipedia, DUKES 5.11, operator and news reports); China: Global Coal Plant Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, July 2026 release.
In calendar years 2006 to 2025, China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal-fired capacity, according to Global Energy Monitor’s Global Coal Plant Tracker (July 2026 release), covering units of 30 MW and larger. That is a gross figure: what China built. Over the same years it retired 134 GW, so the net addition in that series is 918 GW. The fair comparison with plant Britain closed is what China built, 1,052 GW, about 31 times the 33.9 GW taken off the Great Britain grid. In 2025 alone the same series records 77.1 GW commissioned in China, more than twice the entire British total, in a single year. In the first half of 2026, which is not included in the 1,052 GW total, it records a further 30.1 GW. A separate dataset, Ember’s Yearly Electricity Data, puts China’s installed coal capacity at 402.6 GW in 2006 and 1,243 GW in 2025, a net rise of 841 GW in the operating fleet. Ember and GEM do not match exactly, and those figures must not be added together. GEM is the figure for new coal built.
  • 1,052 GW, new coal China commissioned, 2006 to 2025 (GEM, gross)
  • 134 GW retired in the same years; 918 GW net in that series
  • About 31 times the 33.9 GW Britain took off this list
  • 77.1 GW commissioned in China in 2025 alone

The lull

When the wind drops, the backup is gone

Chart: GB transmission-metered wind output, 27 October to 9 November 2026
Chart credit: Daily average output, transmission-metered wind only; embedded (distribution-connected) wind is not included. 10 November is omitted because the day was not yet complete when the data were drawn. Data: Elexon BMRS FUELHH (fuel type WIND), 27 October to 9 November 2026, retrieved 10 November 2026.
Transmission-metered wind, the output recorded by Elexon, which does not include smaller distribution-connected turbines, averaged 0.60 GW on 8 November 2026. That was the lowest complete day in a fortnight that began with 14.0 GW on 27 October. The 14-day average was 5.8 GW. The 8 November figure was about a tenth of that. On 7, 8 and 9 November the daily averages were 1.02, 0.60 and 0.74 GW. The lowest half-hour on 8 November was 253 MW, between 08:00 and 08:30 Europe/London. When output falls like that, the grid needs plant that can be turned up on demand. Britain spent two decades knocking that plant down.
  • 0.60 GW, transmission-metered wind, 8 November 2026
  • 5.8 GW, 14-day average, 27 October to 9 November
  • 14.0 GW on 27 October; 1.02, 0.60 and 0.74 GW on 7 to 9 November
  • 253 MW, lowest half-hour on 8 November (08:00 to 08:30 Europe/London)

The bill

The grid leaned on gas, and paid emergency prices

On the morning of Monday 9 November, the National Energy System Operator issued an Electricity Margin Notice for 08:00 to 11:00, after a Sunday-night notice for 06:00 to 11:00 had forecast a shortfall of about 1,388 MW, later cut to 500 MW and then 200 MW. Elexon lists the notice at 08:24 and the cancellation at 09:11. NESO’s standard wording is that an Electricity Margin Notice “does not signal that blackouts are imminent or that there is not enough generation to meet current demand.” There is no evidence of customer disconnections that day, and no evidence of an actual blackout or emergency brownout. The cost showed up in the balancing market. The Telegraph reported NESO paying around £1,500/MWh between 15:30 and 17:00 to gas plants including Langage, Rye House and Seabank, about ten times the average, with Langage paid the equivalent of £1.4 million an hour. That is the Telegraph’s report, not an independent check of Elexon’s bid-offer data. Household power cuts are not rising. Industry-average customer interruptions fell to 39.7 per 100 customers in 2024/25, from 42.5 the year before, and minutes lost fell to 35.1 from 36.7, on Ofgem’s distribution-network figures. Those statistics measure local faults, cables, storms, trees, not national generation tightness. The tightness is real. Customers are paying for it in price, not, so far, in darkness. Gas plant kept the lights on. For the bill this policy already produces, read World’s Most Expensive Electricity Is Made In Britain.
  • Electricity Margin Notice issued for the morning of 9 November 2026, then cancelled
  • Telegraph: around £1,500/MWh paid to named gas plants that evening
  • Customer interruptions down in 2024/25, not up
  • No evidence of a blackout or emergency brownout on 9 November

The margin

34 GW is more than five times the official winter margin

In its Winter Outlook for 2025/26, published on 9 October 2025, NESO put the base-case de-rated margin at 6.1 GW, described as 10.0% of Average Cold Spell peak demand. That implies an ACS peak of 61 GW. NESO does not print 61 GW as a standalone sentence; it is the arithmetic of those two official numbers. The same outlook chart gives 127 GW of total technical capacity and 67 GW of de-rated capacity, with 6.9 GW of assumed de-rated net interconnector imports at tight times. The 33.9 GW on this list is more than five times that 6.1 GW de-rated margin, about half of the 67 GW de-rated capacity, and about half of the implied 61 GW ACS peak. Those comparisons are about how much reliable plant was removed. They are not a claim that the official margin is made only of coal and oil. The de-rated margin already writes down wind, solar, batteries and interconnectors to a statistical contribution in a stress period. It is not a dispatchable-only headroom figure, and NESO does not publish one in that outlook. This winter’s outlook, published on 23 October 2026, put the de-rated margin at 5.9 GW, a 9.5% buffer, with loss-of-load expectation still below 0.1 hours, within the reliability standard. NESO said supplies are expected to remain secure and comparable to recent winters. Tight days are still expected. (Those 5.9 GW figures were taken from a NESO press-page account of the outlook.)
  • 6.1 GW, NESO base-case de-rated margin, Winter Outlook 2025/26
  • 61 GW, implied ACS peak (6.1 GW is 10.0% of peak)
  • 67 GW, de-rated capacity in that outlook; 33.9 GW is about half of it
  • 5.9 GW, de-rated margin in the 2026/27 outlook

The objection

"But that's just old plant we didn't need"

The obvious objection is that the lights stayed on, so the demolished stations were surplus. They were not surplus on a still day. They were the backup. When transmission-metered wind fell to 0.60 GW, the system called for more generation and, according to the Telegraph, paid gas plants around £1,500/MWh to hold the margin. That is the replacement: expensive, last-minute, and no substitute for 34 GW of plant that could be turned up on demand. Some of the oil stations had low utilisation for years, and nameplate is not last-winter output. Both points are true. Neither of them puts 34 GW of dispatchable capacity back on the system. Over the same years China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal. Britain closed its last coal station and blew the towers. That is a choice about reliability, cost and energy security. It is also the hypocrisy.

The bottom line

The bottom line

  • 33.9 GW of coal and oil plant in Great Britain is already off the grid from 21 stations closed in the 2006 to 2025 period, 24.7 GW from the original list already demolished, 7.5 GW closed and still being demolished, plus Drax’s two remaining coal units and Uskmouth B. A further 3.1 GW was converted to biomass and is still generating. Kilroot’s 560 MW in Northern Ireland, and 2.1 GW at High Marnham and Drakelow C that closed in 2003, are listed separately.
  • Britain’s last coal plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, ended generation on 30 September 2024.
  • In the same years, 2006 to 2025, China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal, about 31 times as much. That is what was built, not net of 134 GW retired.
  • On 8 November 2026, transmission-metered wind averaged 0.60 GW, about a tenth of the 14-day average of 5.8 GW.
  • An Electricity Margin Notice on 9 November was issued and cancelled. The Telegraph reported gas plants paid around £1,500/MWh that evening. Household power cuts are not rising. Customers are paying for tightness in price, not in darkness.
For the cost of running a weather-dependent grid, read The Real Reason Your Electricity Bills Keep Going Up and Net Zero And Renewables: Bringing Britain To The Brink Of An Energy Crisis.

Sources

Sources

  1. Tony Brown (@agbdrilling), station-list post, 9 November 2026, https://x.com/agbdrilling/status/2119877035946606980
  2. Global Coal Plant Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, July 2026 release (China commissioned 1,052 GW of new coal, 2006 to 2025), https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-coal-plant-tracker
  3. Global Energy Monitor, Boom and Bust Coal 2026, https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/boom-and-bust-coal-2026
  4. Ember, Yearly Electricity Data (China operating coal stock, 2006 and 2025), https://ember-energy.org/data/yearly-electricity-data/
  5. Uniper, Ratcliffe-on-Soar ends coal generation, 30 September 2024, https://www.uniper.energy/united-kingdom/news/the-end-of-an-era---ratcliffe-on-soar-power-station-ends-coal-generation/
  6. AP News, UK’s last coal power station closes, https://apnews.com/article/uk-last-coal-power-station-closing-9e6b792f27513e3b02904da1eaedfbf3
  7. NESO, Winter Outlook 2025/26, 9 October 2025, https://www.neso.energy/document/369621/download
  8. NESO, strongest winter electricity margins in six years, https://www.neso.energy/neso-sets-out-expectations-strongest-winter-electricity-margins-six-years
  9. NESO, British electricity supplies secure this winter (2026/27 outlook, 23 October 2026), https://www.neso.energy/british-electricity-supplies-secure-winter-despite-global-instability-1
  10. Elexon BMRS, FUELHH transmission-metered wind, 27 October to 9 November 2026, https://data.elexon.co.uk/bmrs/api/v1/datasets/FUELHH?fuelType=WIND&settlementDateFrom=2026-10-27&settlementDateTo=2026-11-02&format=json
  11. Elexon BMRS, Electricity Margin Notice issued and cancelled, 9 November 2026, https://bmrs.elexon.co.uk/whats-new
  12. The Guardian, NESO call for more electricity supplies as wind drops, 9 November 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/nov/09/rare-call-more-electricity-supplies-windpower-drops-britain-energy-shortfall
  13. The Telegraph, gas power stations fired up over electricity shortfall (around £1,500/MWh), 9 November 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/11/09/gas-power-stations-to-fire-up-over-electricity-shortfall/
  14. Energy Review compilation of Ofgem RIIO-ED2 network reliability data (CI/CML, 2024/25), https://www.energy-review.co.uk/energy-data/network-reliability
  15. Ofgem, RIIO-2 Electricity Distribution Annual Report 2024 to 2025, https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-01/ED-annual-report-2024-2025.pdf
  16. EDF, Cottam cooling towers demolition, Guinness World Record, 14 August 2025, https://www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/cooling-towers-demolition-guinness-world-record
  17. BBC News, Cottam cooling towers demolished, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgqnlvxgq9qo
  18. BBC News, Inverkip chimney demolition, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23330157
  19. BBC News, Fawley chimney demolition, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-59108792
  20. Power Stations of the UK, coal countdown, https://www.powerstations.uk/coal-countdown/
  21. DESNZ, Digest of UK Energy Statistics, Table 5.11 (Drax biomass units 2,640 MW, Drax coal units 1,320 MW, Lynemouth 420 MW, Kilroot 559 MW)
  22. EP UK Investments, Lynemouth Power Station (420 MW, converted to biomass 2018), https://www.epuki.co.uk/about/our-power-stations/lynemouth/
  23. Power Technology, Lynemouth last coal December 2015, conversion completed early 2018, https://www.power-technology.com/projects/lynemouth-biomass-power-station-northumberland/
  24. Drax, end of commercial coal generation planned for March 2021, formal closure September 2022, 27 February 2020, https://www.drax.com/uk/investors/end-of-coal-generation-at-drax-power-station/
  25. Drax, official end of coal-fired generation after the winter contingency, 25 April 2023, https://www.drax.com/uk/press_release/drax-ends-half-a-century-of-coal-fired-power-generation/
  26. Power Stations of the UK, Uskmouth B (original 363 MW, refurbished to 393 MW; last coal April 2017), https://www.powerstations.uk/uskmouth-b-power-station-newport/
  27. BBC News, Uskmouth coal station to shut, 9 May 2014, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-27344515
  28. South Wales Argus, demolition of Uskmouth cooling structures approved, planned by 13 May 2024; main station standing, https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23994767.demolition-cooling-towers-uskmouth-power-station-can-go-ahead/
  29. EP Kilroot, closure of Kilroot coal units on 30 September 2023, https://kilrootenergypark.co.uk/news/ep-kilroot-comment-on-closure-of-kilroot-coal-units
  30. BBC News, Kilroot generates electricity from gas for the first time, 28 March 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68681247
  31. BBC News, job losses as High Marnham and Drakelow C close, 9 January 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2643351.stm
  32. BBC News, five High Marnham cooling towers demolished, 15 July 2012 (station closed 2003), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18847674
  33. BBC News, Drakelow C boiler houses to be demolished, 23 April 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/4935914.stm
  34. Global Energy Monitor, Drakelow C units retired 2003: 350 MW, 350 MW and 375 MW (1,075 MW remaining at closure), https://www.gem.wiki/Drakelow_power_station
  35. Power Stations Revisited, Drakelow C designed 1,450 MW; Unit 11 reported scrapped after 1978 boiler damage; closed March 2003; towers September 2006, https://www.powerstationsrevisited.org.uk/drakelow/drakelow-c/
  36. Wikipedia station pages used for nameplate, closure and demolition dates, cross-checked as above: Cockenzie, Kingsnorth, Tilbury, Didcot, Ironbridge, Rugeley, Longannet, Ferrybridge, Eggborough, Cottam, Inverkip, Grain, Richborough, Littlebrook, Fawley, West Burton, Aberthaw, Fiddler’s Ferry, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Lynemouth, Drax, Uskmouth, Kilroot, High Marnham, Drakelow
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