Here’s the need-to-know stuff about the energy source – coal

What is coal?

Coal is a form of rock that is usually black and hard, or black-brown.

How is coal formed?

Around 300 million years ago the world was covered with tropical swamp forest. When these plants died they fell into the swampy Earth and over time were buried. Over millions of years they were changed into coal by pressure from the layers of rock above them.

Where can you find coal?

Coal can be found in many places in the world. Some of the main sources include: China, India, USA, South America, Australia, Russia, Poland, Northern England, Scotland and Wales.

How is coal made into electricity?

Coal is burned to heat water and produce steam. This steam propels the blades of a turbine. This is attached to a generator, which produces electricity.

Coal in the UK

Britain was built on coal. The Industrial Revolution ran on it, and at its peak more than a million people worked in British coal mines.

Now? Not one power station in the UK burns coal to make electricity. The last one, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, stopped at midnight on 30 September 2024.

So where does our electricity come from instead? In spring 2026, more than half of it — 53% — came from renewables like wind and solar. Most of the rest came from gas (29%) and nuclear power (17%).

Figures: UK government Energy Trends, March to May 2026.

Why people used coal

• It was cheap, and there was a lot of it.
• It could be found in many countries, including our own.
• A coal power station can run whatever the weather.

Why Britain stopped

• Burning coal releases more carbon dioxide than any other way of making electricity, and carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that causes climate change.
• It pollutes the air people breathe.
• Coal is non-renewable: one day it would have run out.

Check out more energy facts here!

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