Scottish Power ends production at Scotland's last coal power station

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Scottish Power will on Thursday end production at the country's last coal-fired power station, the company said.

The 46 year old Longannet Power Station in Fife, which at its peak provided electricity for over 2 million homes, will stop generating at 1500 GMT, Ibedrola-owned Scottish Power said in a statement.

"Coal has long been the dominant force in Scotland's electricity generation fleet, but the closure of Longannet signals the end of an era. For the first time in more than a century no power produced in Scotland will come from burning coal," Hugh Finlay, Generation Director at Scottish Power said.

The company announced last year it would close the plant this month after it failed to secure a contract for grid-balancing services with National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) and because a combination of high carbon taxes and high transmission charges made running the plant uneconomic.

Longannet directly employs 236 people who will be redeployed, made redundant or take early retirement. Around 45 people will remain at the station until the end of December as part of the decommissioning team, Scottish Power said.

No decisions have been taken on the future of the site, but Scottish Power said it expected to outline its plans before the end of the year.

Britain's government has a goal to close all coal-fired power plants in the nation by 2025 but weak economic conditions for investment in new gas plants needed to replace them has created concerns about power shortages and price spikes. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Mark Potter)