We believe investing in our people goes hand-in-hand with enabling the green energy transformation and positive future growth.
We believe investing in our people goes hand-in-hand with enabling the green energy transformation and positive future growth.
We’re committed to enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future through engineering, technology and innovation.
We’re building for a sustainable future in how we source our biomass, generate energy, remove carbon dioxide and function as a business.
Read our carbon capture, sustainable bioenergy and power generation stories, as well as thinking from Drax’s leaders and business updates.
Explore a comprehensive guide to our business model and investor relations.
Drax Group’s ambition is to become a carbon negative business by 2030, through innovative greenhouse gas removal technology.
We believe investing in our people goes hand-in-hand with enabling the green energy transformation and positive future growth.
RNS Number : 2689V
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)
Drax is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Pinnacle Renewable Inc.
The Acquisition was originally announced on 8 February 2021.
Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
RNS Number : 6420U
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)
On 8 February 2021, Drax announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (the “Acquisition”). On 31 March 2021, Drax announced that the Acquisition had been approved by Drax Shareholders at the General Meeting and Pinnacle announced that the Acquisition had been approved by Pinnacle Shareholders.
Drax is pleased to announce that on 6 April 2021 the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the Final Order. All of the conditions to the Completion of the Acquisition have now been satisfied or waived (other than conditions which can only be satisfied at Completion) and Completion is expected to occur on 13 April 2021.
Capitalised terms used but not defined in this announcement have the meanings given to them in the Circular.
Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
RNS Number : 1936U
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)
Drax is pleased to announce the results of its General Meeting held today, Wednesday 31 March 2021.
| No. | Resolution | Votes For | % | Votes Against | % | Votes Total (not including withheld) | Votes Withheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | To approve the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. | 318,727,664 | 99.99% | 20,744 | 0.01% | 318,748,408 | 95,895 |
The resolution was passed.
Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur in April 2021, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the final outstanding conditions.
The number of shares in issue is 411,732,605 (of which 13,841,295 are held in treasury. Treasury shares don’t carry voting rights).
Votes withheld are not a vote in law and have not been counted in the calculation of the votes for and against the resolution, the total votes validly cast or the calculation of the proportion of issued share capital voted.
A copy of the resolution is available for inspection in the Circular, which was previously submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority’s National Storage Mechanism at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
The Circular and the voting results are also available on the Company’s website at www.drax.com.
Capitalised terms used but not defined in this announcement have the meanings given to them in the Circular.
Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)
RNS Number : 6407S
The following documents have been mailed to the registered shareholders of Drax Group plc:
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.1 a copy of each of these documents will shortly be available for viewing on the National Storage Mechanism.
The Annual Report and Accounts 2020 and the Notice of the 2021 Annual General Meeting will also shortly be available as follows:
The Company is to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 11.30am on Wednesday 21 April 2021, at 8-10, The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7YD.
In light of Covid-19 restrictions and current prohibitions on public gatherings, attendance at the AGM shall be restricted and therefore shareholders are strongly encouraged to vote electronically or to vote by proxy.
However, despite the current exceptional circumstances, the Directors are keen to maintain engagement with shareholders. Shareholders can therefore join the meeting and submit questions by logging on to web.lumiagm.com. A user guide detailing the arrangements to join and submit questions at the meeting is set out in the Notice of AGM.
Detailed below are the key dates regarding the proposed final dividend:
The proposed rate of the final dividend is 10.3 pence per share.
Brett Gladden
Company Secretary
18 March 2021
17 March 2021
Hello everyone. My name is Will Gardiner and I am the CEO of the Drax Group. It is great to have the opportunity to speak to you today at the Utility Week Investor Summit and to discuss attracting investment in emerging low carbon technologies.
My company Drax has been at the heart of Britain’s energy system for decades. And we have played a key role in the decarbonisation of the power sector: Drax Power Station in Selby, North Yorkshire, is the UK’s largest power station and Europe’s largest decarbonisation project. Cruachan, our Scottish Pumped Storage facility, is a key complement to Britain’s ever-increasing supply of offshore wind.
Our transition from coal to biomass has allowed us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by over 80% while providing clean and flexible energy to millions of homes and businesses across the UK. This month saw the end of commercial coal generation at Drax power station – a milestone in the history of our company and of the UK economy, too.
But the drive to create a more sustainable, net zero economy means that we cannot stop here.
Which is why at Drax we have committed to a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030.
Engineer in the workshop at Drax Power Station
We will achieve this by increasing our capacity to generate renewable electricity, and by making a transformational investment in bioenergy with CCS, or BECCS, which will enable us to permanently remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
We are pioneering BECCS at Drax Power Station as part of the Zero Carbon Humber cluster, a coalition of diverse businesses with the same ambition: to create the world’s first net zero emissions industrial cluster.
I am delighted to confirm today that the Zero Carbon Humber Cluster project has received more than £21m in funding from the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to help accelerate our plans and to help transform our vision of a zero carbon industrial cluster into a reality.
BECCS is a vital technology in the fight against climate change. Expert bodies such as the Climate Change Committee here in the UK and the IPCC at a global level are clear that we need negative emissions technologies including BECCS to reach net zero. And BECCS is central to the UK government and Europe’s decarbonisation plans.
As the world’s largest, and most experienced, generator and supplier of sustainable bioenergy there is no better place to pioneer BECCS than at Drax. The economic, social and environmental benefits are enormous.
BECCS at Drax will permanently remove millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere and help heavy industry in the UK’s largest emitting area decarbonise quickly and cost effectively;
It will enable the creation of tens of thousands of green jobs in the North of England, levelling up the economy and delivering a green recovery from the Covid crisis;
And it will put the UK at the forefront of global efforts to develop carbon removal technology in this, the year that we host COP26 in Glasgow.
We know that BECCS works and that the technology is available now. Looking at cost projections from the CCC, we also know that it is the best value negative emissions technology.
We have already successfully run two BECCS pilots at the power station. In 2019 we demonstrated that we can capture CO2 from a 100% biomass feedstock. And in 2020, we began a second pilot working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to further enhance the potential for delivering negative emissions.
We aim to deploy BECCS at scale by 2027. To that end, earlier this month, we kickstarted the planning process for our proposals to build our first BECCS unit, marking a major milestone in the project and putting us in a position to commence building BECCS as soon as 2024.
Successful decarbonisation has always been a partnership between industry and government.
This is evident looking at the incredible rise of Britain’s offshore wind sector. As a direct response to government’s political commitment, a strong price signal, and an investable Contract for Difference mechanism, offshore wind capacity has grown from 1GW to over 10GW in a decade. And build costs are now two thirds lower than what they were 10 years ago.
Pylon that takes excess wind power to be stored at Cruachan pumped hydro storage power station in Scotland
At Drax, our conversion from coal to biomass was benefited from much the same framework:
That combination of factors – a clear, transparent, investable framework for renewables, combined with a strong price signal from the UK government discouraging fossil fuel power generation – has been the key to driving private sector investment in renewable power technology in the UK. As a result, the UK leads the world in decarbonising its electricity sector, while also enabling a global technology revolution in offshore wind power. Importantly, the whole effort has been underpinned by transparency, competition and confidence in the regulatory and legal framework, all of which are critical.
By continuing this partnership between industry and government, the UK could become the world leader in emerging green technologies such as BECCS.
Right now, markets and regulatory frameworks for BECCS or negative emissions more broadly either don’t exist – or aren’t flexible enough – to support the scaling of the technologies we need to get to net zero. But the first-generation framework, as I have just described, provides a great model.
Fundamentally, we believe that we can do BECCS at a cost of less than £100/t of CO2, which is less than any other negative emissions technology available.
We know this investment will help the UK reach net zero at a lower cost than it otherwise could do.
Maintenance inside a water cooling tower at Drax Power Station
But although we’re ready to make the investment – the UK’s regulatory system isn’t yet ready to support it.
Despite being world leaders in these areas, our carbon pricing system and financial markets don’t yet recognise the value of negative emissions, even though our political institutions and scientists say they are vital to tackling climate change.
There is no government defined business model for BECCS, which will be essential to signalling long term political support as well as operational support.
And despite being the best placed country in the world to develop BECCS, we risk losing out as other countries race to deploy this technology first. Just last week we saw Aker, Microsoft and Orsted sign a memorandum of understanding to develop BECCS in Denmark.
However, in its ten-point plan, the UK government has committed to outline what role biomass and BECCS will play in the UK’s transition to net zero by the end of this year. Soon it will be consulting on a new bioenergy strategy. And it has already taken evidence on Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies and consulted on CCS clusters.
This, we believe, demonstrates that a set of policies could emerge in the coming months that will support investment in BECCS.
At their core, we think these policies should capture the stability and investability of a CfD for the renewable power that we will produce, as well as deliver payment for the negative emissions. By compensating negative emissions with a credit for every ton of CO2 they remove from the environment, the government can properly reward those technologies, and add a critical new set of tools to the fight against climate change – ultimately lower the cost of winning that battle.
This would enable Drax to invest in BECCS, begin delivering negative emissions and helping to decarbonise the North of England as soon as 2027.
With COP26 later this year, making this policy commitment will allow us to accelerate our own decarbonisation journey and support the industries of the future develop here in the UK.
We know that there is no silver bullet solution to tackling climate change.
Negative emissions technologies such as BECCS will be needed alongside others, for example more renewables, electric vehicles, energy storage, energy efficiency and hydrogen.
Drax employee charging an electric car at Haven Power in Ipswich
BECCS complements – and does not – and should not – substitute for ambitious decarbonisation plans. Technologies such as BECCS have a clear and unique role to play by helping harder to abate sectors such as heavy industry, aviation and agriculture – decarbonise.
This is critically important if we are to meet our legally binding 2050 net zero target. The CCC estimates that 51m tonnes of CO2 will need to be captured via BECCS to meet net zero.
We know that BECCS can only make a meaningful contribution to tackling climate change if the bioenergy is sustainably sourced. This has been fundamental to Drax’s transition from coal to biomass, and it remains fundamental as we progress our plans for BECCS.
Sustainably sourced wood residues at Morehouse Bioenergy pellet plant in Louisiana
Biomass, as the UK Government has stated, is one of our most valuable tools for reaching net zero emissions. So we need the right framework to ensure it is sourced sustainably.
As the world’s largest bioenergy producer and generator, we recognise our responsibility to be the world leaders in sustainability, too.
At Drax, we have invested in world leading policies, tools and expertise to ensure that our biomass is sustainably sourced. We go beyond regulatory compliance and have set up an Independent Advisory Board, Chaired by the UK Government’s former Chief Scientific Advisor, to help us and challenge us on sustainable biomass and its role in Drax’s transition to net zero.
Thanks to our independent catchment area analyses, we know more about the forests we source from than ever before. We know and can demonstrate how demand for biomass can support healthy forests. For example, in the South East US where Drax sources most of its biomass, there is more than double the carbon stored in forests than there was 50 years ago.
BECCS will be a critical green technology. And with the right support and policy framework we could be pioneers in making it a reality.
There is no better place to deliver BECCS than at Drax, and no better time to deliver it than now.
At Drax, we stand ready to invest hundreds of millions of pounds to scale up BECCS technology;
To put the UK at the forefront of global efforts to reach net zero emissions;
And to help create tens of thousands of green jobs in the North of England.
Thank you very much for listening.
RNS Number : 1426S
Drax Group PLC
(Symbol: DRX)
On 8 February 2021, Drax announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (the “Acquisition”).
Drax is pleased to announce that a Circular in relation to the Acquisition (the “Circular”) has been published.
The Acquisition is subject to the approval of the shareholders of the Company and, accordingly, the Circular contains a notice convening a general meeting of the Company to be held at Opus Energy House, 8-10 The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7YD, UK at 4:30 pm on 31 March 2021. In light of COVID-19 restrictions and current prohibitions on public gatherings, attendance at the general meeting shall be restricted and therefore shareholders are strongly encouraged to vote electronically or to vote by proxy.
The Company will be accepting shareholders’ questions for the general meeting via the facility on the Company’s website at https://www.drax.com/investors/disclaimer-proposed-acquisition-of-pinnacle-renewable-energy-inc-by-drax. The deadline for submitting questions is 5:00pm on 19 March 2021. The Company will look to post answers to questions received on the Company’s website.
The Circular, which has been produced in accordance with the Listing Rules and approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, will shortly be available on the Company’s website at www.drax.com. In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.1, a copy of the Circular has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will be available shortly at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism. Printed copies of the Circular will be posted to shareholders who have elected to receive them.
Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
+44 (0) 7730 763 949
Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
+44 (0) 7712 670 888
+44 (0) 20 7653 4000
James Agnew Peter Buzzi Mark Rushton Evgeni Jordanov Jonathan Hardy Jack Wood
The contents of this announcement have been prepared by and are the sole responsibility of Drax Group plc (the “Company”).
RBC Europe Limited (“RBC”), which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (the “PRA”) and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and the PRA, is acting exclusively for the Company and for no one else in connection with the Acquisition, the content of this announcement and other matters described in this announcement and will not regard any other person as its clients in relation to the Acquisition, the content of this announcement and other matters described in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for providing advice to any other person in relation to the Acquisition, the content of this announcement or any other matters referred to in this announcement.
This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any shares in the Company or in any entity discussed herein, in any jurisdiction nor shall it or any part of it nor the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract commitment or investment decision in relation thereto nor does it constitute a recommendation regarding the securities of the Company or of any entity discussed herein.
RBC and its affiliates do not accept any responsibility or liability whatsoever and make no representations or warranties, express or implied, in relation to the contents of this announcement, including its accuracy, fairness, sufficient, completeness or verification or for any other statement made or purported to be made by it, or on its behalf, in connection with the Acquisition and nothing in this announcement is, or shall be relied upon as, a promise or representation in this respect, whether as to the past or the future. RBC and its respective affiliates accordingly disclaim to the fullest extent permitted by law all and any responsibility and liability whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise which it might otherwise be found to have in respect of this announcement or any such statement.
Each of the Company, RBC and their respective affiliates expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to supplement, amend, update, review or revise any of the forward looking statements made herein, except as required by law.
You are advised to read this announcement and the circular in their entirety for a further discussion of the factors that could affect the Company and its group and/or, following completion, the enlarged group’s future performance. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements in this announcement may not occur.
Neither the content of the Company’s website (or any other website) nor any website accessible by hyperlinks on the Company’s website (or any other website) is incorporated in, or forms part of, this announcement.
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)
RNS Number : 8747R
Drax confirms that it has provisionally secured agreements to provide a total of 617MW of capacity (de-rated 582MW) principally from its pumped storage and hydro assets(1). The agreements are for the delivery period October 2024 to September 2025, at a price of £18/kW(2) and are worth around £10 million in that period. These are in addition to existing agreements which extend to September 2024.
Drax confirms that it has provisionally secured 15-year agreements for three new 299MW (de-rated 284MW) Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) projects at sites in England and Wales(3). The agreements are for the delivery period October 2024 to September 2039, at a price of £18/kW(2) and are worth around £230 million in that period.
Artist’s impression of a rapid-response gas power station (OCGT)
These assets are intended to operate for short periods of time to meet specific system support needs. As the UK transitions towards a net zero economy, it will become increasingly dependent on wind generation and as such, fast response system support technologies such as these OCGTs are increasingly important to the energy system as a means to enable more wind to run more often and more securely.
The total capital cost of these projects is approximately £80-90 million each, with a build time of around two years.
A further OCGT project participated in the auction but exited above the clearing price and did not accept an agreement.
Drax will now evaluate options for all four OCGT projects including their potential sale.
In December 2019 Drax announced an ambition to become a carbon negative company by 2030 using Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and the Group remains focused on its biomass strategy. In January 2021 Drax completed the sale of its Combined Cycle Gas Generation (CCGT) assets and in March 2021 ends commercial coal generation. Drax believes that its remaining portfolio of sustainable biomass, pumped storage and hydro will be amongst the lowest carbon generation portfolios in Europe.
Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
Website: www.drax.com
