[cbzoiav]

We've gone over a month without burning any coal, but then the Ukraine war happened and we were at risks of blackouts. That 1.1% is likely heavily concentrated as a much higher percentage on a relatively small days over winter and/or where wind levels were low.

We probably want to be sure if gas imports are heavily hit again or a major interconnector goes down we'll be fine before entirely demolishing it.

[dubcanada]

Could you not just keep gas as a backup? I don’t see why you need both coal and gas?

[Reason077]

There was an issue with gas in the 2022/23 winter as the Russia-Ukraine war affected supplies and caused prices to skyrocket. More coal than usual was burnt because of this. But it's a moot point now: coal-fired plants have continued to close in line with UK government policy, and the last remaining one is scheduled to close in September.

[cfn]

I suppose gas and coal are sourced from different places and that may give some resilience to the system. They also serve very different functions in the grid. Coal is for baseline and gas is for peak.