At the Longannet Power Station near Kincardine, the coal from local pits used to create heat and steam was pulverised to make a fine dust that was mixed with pre-heated air, blown into the furnaces and burned at extremely high temperatures.

Around 1800 tonnes of steam per boiler was superheated to over 500C before being piped into high pressured cylinders in the turbines forcing the blades and attached equipment to turn at 3000 rpm creating the electricity.

The steam produced by the turbines was converted into water in the condensers then recirculated back into the boilers.

To connect to the National Grid, however, cost the plant £40million a year and by the late 2000s had become too expensive.

Carbon emissions, and the high taxes that went with them, had also been an issue with SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) stating in 2003 it was Scotland's biggest polluter and a later report stating Longannet was the biggest polluter in the UK.

However, plans for Longannet to be the first carbon capture storage unit in the UK came to fruition in 2009, although two years later the project was shelved as it was not financially viable.

The station was not without its controversies. Treated and dried sewage sludge was burned but a judge in 2005 ruled the practice as illegal, although SEPA allowed Scottish Power to continue burning it under an agreement that a biomass unit would be constructed by 2010. In 2012, all biomass burning ceased.

With a flick of a switch to turn off the last generator, Longannet power station closed its doors on Thursday, March 24, 2016. It was the last of the coal powered power stations in Scotland with the loss of around 230 direct jobs.

It had generated electricity for around a quarter of Scottish homes and had produced the most electricity to the National Grid from a Scottish site. Old age was also a factor in its closure.

In the spring of 2017 applications were made to Fife Council for the demolition of the Longannet power station and with it its iconic chimney stack as the change is made to cleaner, greener energy.

On April 12, 2018, a controlled explosion was carried out on a steel precipitator structure as decommissioning continues.

The Longannet name will not disappear after the complex has been demolished as a roundabout bears its name. The Longannet Roundabout, built in 2006, links the A985, Kincardine's southernmost link to the Kincardine Bridge, the A977 leading to Dunfermline, and the unclassified road to Culross.