[bureaucrat]

Wow, seriously? Do you think people run coal power plants to generate profit? Profit doesn't matter. They run it for 24/7 stable energy.

>hurr durr coal is unprofitable we need to build solar & wind and close down coal plants

God, the press really overestimates peoples' ability to decode facts.

[pjc50]

> Do you think people run coal power plants to generate profit? Profit doesn't matter.

Depends on where you are in the world; quite a lot of the west has privatised its generation and does dispatch through markets, so the coal plant really will be run if and only if it's profitable.

The UK has almost completely closed all its coal generation in the past decade.

[bureaucrat]

Quite a lot of the East does not. Also, UK replaced it's coal for natural gas because large coal mines are not near it.