A heat wave that caused three Royal Guards to collapse in London over the weekend has now forced the UK’s National Grid to restart the Ratcliffe on Soar coal-fired power plant in Nottinghamshire to meet demand for air conditioning.
The move ends a 46-day run where coal was not used to generate electricity. Ironically, the Western Standard reported, the biggest culprit is unreliable solar panels, saying extreme heat hinders the panels’ capacity to collect energy. The coal-fired power plant had been scheduled to close in March 2023, but the closure was postponed for two years after Russia invaded Ukraine and disrupted natural gas markets.
On Sunday, an editorial in the Telegraph blamed the situation on the nation’s rush to embrace renewable energy, which now account for 40% of the UK’s electric supply, calling it Britain’s “green energy disaster” and warning Americans not to make the same mistake.
