Radcliffe-on-Soar coal fired power station is about to shut bringing an end the to the coal fired generation era.  Readers will know I am a huge advocate for renewable energy, but I confess to an element of sadness as the last of these amazing pieces of infrastructure meets its maker.

As a young lawyer I cut my teeth on power station sales and over the last 25 years have alongside helping to establish new clean energy generation plants, assisted with the decommissioning of many of our coal- fired fleet.  In doing so I have been lucky enough to visit many of these sites and stare in wonder at what it takes to operate them as well as the shear size.    I have bored my family to death pointing out the stations as we drive up and down the country on trips, proudly saying I worked on that….did you know….. (actually that goes for any energy project I have worked on).   

The thing about these stations is that they had large working communities often with social and sports clubs attached to them.  So whilst time has moved on and we are rightly focussing on new forms of energy generation, these places will continue to hold valuable and fond memories for many.