A group from a Korean power station has visited Drax to understand how it transformed itself from being the UK’s biggest coal-fired power station to become the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
The delegation from Korean South-East Power Co. visited Drax Power Station near Selby in North Yorkshire, where enough renewable electricity is now produced from sustainable biomass to power more than four million homes.
The group had a tour of the power station and heard about how Drax upgraded half of its generating units to use sustainable biomass instead of coal to become the UK’s biggest single site renewable power generator.
Drax signed up to the government’s Powering Past Coal Alliance earlier this year. The UK-Canadian initiative seeks to end the use of coal by 2030 in developed countries as part of efforts to tackle climate change.
Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said:
“Unabated coal does not have a role in our low carbon future. In the UK there has already been a dramatic fall in power generation from coal – an 84% reduction in the last five years, and a major shift towards lower carbon technologies.
“We want to share some of the engineering knowledge and expertise gained from successfully upgrading half of the power station to use biomass, with other power producers in the hope we can help to remove more coal from the system and develop a low carbon future globally.”
Drax is currently converting a fourth coal generating unit to use biomass, and is also progressing plans for repowering its two remaining coal units with gas power generation and batteries.
It welcomes over 13,000 visitors to the power station each year. As a member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, Drax is committed to the development of a low carbon future globally.
