One promising option is to turn old fossil power plants into battery storage sites. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are the mainstay of the net-zero transition. They don't emit greenhouse gases, so the more they replace fossil fuels like coal and gas the closer we come to net-zero emissions.
One of the UK's defunct coal plants in Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire, is being turned into a battery energy storage system (Credit: Getty Images) For many decades, the most important form of energy storage was pumped hydropower.
A Canadian firm, Hydrostor, has designed schemes for turning old coal plants into compressed air batteries. The air can be released to force the plant’s turbines back into action whenever electricity is needed. There are plenty of other ideas for reinventing former coal-burning facilities, too.
It's an unassuming place for a major era of British history to come to an end. Surrounded by farmland drenched by recent rains and trees with leaves starting to turn ahead of the autumn – all within earshot of the thundering traffic from the M1 motorway – the UK's last coal-fired power station is shutting down for good.
It was the life-blood of the industrial revolution – providing the fuel for steam engines and then generating much of the country's electricity. By the 1960s, nearly 90% of the UK's electricity relied upon coal. Now, for the first time, the UK will not use any coal to generate electricity.
circa 1930: Miners bring out coal out from a small privately owned mine in the Forest of Dean. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) Two miners working in their underwear on the coal face at Tilmanstone Colliery, Kent. This photograph was taken using a ‘Sashalite’, a safe flash light developed by the photographer Sasha. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images)