Brexit Worsens U.K. Energy Supply Risk as Coal Closures Loom
- Britain faces losing influence in European market rulemaking
- Coal plants facing possible early closure as profit squeezed
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Britain’s decision to leave the European Union may push back its planned exit from coal, a mainstay in the nation’s energy supply for more than a century.
As the region’s second-biggest economy plans to close its last coal-fired power plant in less than a decade, it will be forced to rely more than ever on imports of natural gas and electricity. By leaving the EU, Britain could lose easy access to foreign supplies through the bloc’s single market, just as it plans to almost triple the number of power cables linking it to European nations by 2022.