Coal is very much used only for peak in the UK in recent years. The remaining plants (in fact, there’s only one still in service now) are kept on standby during winter and activated only when demand is forecast to exceed supply (plus a safety margin).
Gas is now more of a year-round flexible baseload, taking up the slack whenever demand is high and/or renewables production is low.
Nuclear is now the only true baseload in the UK - always generating more-or-less the same output except when they have to be shut down for maintenance, refuelling, or decommissioning!
Gas is now more of a year-round flexible baseload, taking up the slack whenever demand is high and/or renewables production is low.
Nuclear is now the only true baseload in the UK - always generating more-or-less the same output except when they have to be shut down for maintenance, refuelling, or decommissioning!