Tag: wood pellets

Acquisition of 90,000 tonnes Canadian pellet plant

3 August 2022

Investors

RNS Number: 8081U
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)

The plant, which has been operating since 1995, has the capacity to produce 90,000 tonnes of wood pellets a year, primarily from sawmill residues. Around half of the output from the plant is currently contracted to Drax.

The plant is located close to the Group’s Armstrong and Lavington plants and the port of Vancouver, and has 32 employees, who are expected to join Drax.

Following completion of the acquisition the plant is expected to contribute to the Group’s strategy to increase pellet production to 8 million tonnes a year by 2030.

The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2022.

Drax CEO, Will Gardiner

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO said:

“We look forward to welcoming the Princeton pellet plant team to Drax Group as we continue to build our global pellet production and sales business, supporting UK security of supply and increasing pellet sales to third parties in Asia and Europe as they displace fossil fuels from energy systems. Drax’s strategy to become a world leader in sustainable biomass, supports international decarbonisation goals and puts Drax at the heart of the global, green energy transition.”

Enquiries:

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media:

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
+44 (0) 7712 670 888

Website: www.Drax.com

END

View RNS here. 

Supporting a circular economy in the forests

Alan Knight, Group Director of Sustainability

16 June 2022

Opinion

Every year in British Columbia, millions of tonnes of waste wood – known in the industry as slash – is burned by the side of the road.

Land managers are required by law to dispose of this waste wood – that includes leftover tree limbs and tops, and wood that is rotten, diseased and already fire damaged – to reduce the risks of wildfires and the spread of disease and pests.

The smoke from these fires is choking surrounding communities – sometimes “smoking out entire valleys,” air quality meteorologist from BC’s Environment Ministry Trina Orchard recently told iNFOnews.ca.

It also impacts the broader environment, releasing some 3 million tonnes of CO2 a year into the atmosphere, according to some early estimates.

Slash pile in British Columbia

Landfilling this waste material from logging operations isn’t an option as it would emit methane – a greenhouse gas that is about 25 times more potent than CO2. So you can see why it ends up being burned.

In its Modernizing Forest Policy in BC, the government has already identified its intention to phase out the burning of this waste wood left over after harvesting operations and is working with suppliers and other companies to encourage the use of this fibre.

This is a very positive move as this material must come out of the forests to reduce the fuel load that can help wildfires grow and spread to the point where they can’t be controlled, let alone be extinguished.

The wildfire risk is real and growing. Each year more forests and land are destroyed by wildfire, impacting communities, nature, wildlife and the environment.

In the past two decades, wildfires burned two and a half times more land in BC than in the previous 50-year period. According to very early estimates, emissions from last year’s wildfires in the province released around 150 million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to around 30 million cars on the road for a year.

Alan Knight at the log yard for Lavington Pellet Mill in British Columbia

During my recent trip to British Columbia in Canada, First Nations, foresters, academics, scientists and government officials all talked about the burning piles of waste wood left over after logging operations.

Rather than burning it, it would be far better, they say, to use more of this potential resource as a feedstock for pellets that can be used to generate renewable energy, while supporting local jobs across the forestry sector and helping bolster the resilience of Canada’s forests against wildfire.

I like this approach because it brings pragmatism and common sense to the debate over Canada’s forests from the very people who know the most about the landscape around them.

Burning it at the roadside is a waste of a resource that could be put to much better use in generating renewable electricity, displacing fossil fuels, and it highlights the positive role the bioenergy industry can play in enhancing the forests and supporting communities.

Drax is already using some of this waste wood – which I saw in the log yard for our Lavington Pellet mill in British Columbia. This waste wood comprises around 20% of our feedstock. The remaining 80% comes from sawmill residues like sawdust, chips and shavings.

Waste wood for pellets at Lavington Pellet Mill log yard

It’s clear to me that using this waste material that has little other use or market value to make our pellets is an invaluable opportunity to deliver real benefits for communities, jobs and the environment while supporting a sustainable circular economy in the forestry sector.

2021 Adjusted EBITDA around top of current analyst expectations

1 December 2021

Investors

Highlights

  • Major planned outage on CfD(1) unit completed on schedule
  • Incremental power sales on biomass ROC(2) units since July 2021 capturing higher prices
  • Commissioning of 550Kt of new biomass pellet production capacity in US Southeast
  • 2021 Adjusted EBITDA(3) – around the top end of current range of analyst expectations, subject to continued baseload generation on biomass units throughout December
  • Positive policy developments for biomass and framework for UK BECCS(4)

Pellet Production

In North America, the Group has made good progress integrating Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (“Pinnacle”) since acquisition in April 2021 and is currently in the final stages of commissioning over 360Kt of new production capacity at Demopolis, Alabama. In October 2021, the Group commissioned a 150Kt expansion at its LaSalle plant in Louisiana and at Leola, Arkansas, a new 40Kt satellite plant is due to be commissioned in December.

These developments, along-side incremental new capacity in 2022, support the Group’s continued focus on production capacity expansion and cost reduction. Once fully commissioned, Drax will operate around 5Mt of production capacity across three major North American fibre baskets – British Columbia, Alberta and the US Southeast, of which around 2Mt are contracted to high-quality third-party counterparties under long-term contracts, with the balance available for Drax’s own-use requirements.

There has been no disruption to own-use or third-party volumes from the global supply chain delays currently being experienced in some other sectors. However, as outlined at the Group’s 2021 Half Year Results, summer wildfires led to pellet export restrictions in Canada. More recently, heavy rainfall and flooding in British Columbia have led to some further disruption to rail movements and regional supply chains. Through its enlarged and diversified supply chain Drax has been able to manage and limit the impact on biomass supply for own-use and to customers.

In addition, due to the Group’s active and long-term hedging of freight costs, there has been no material impact associated with higher market prices for ocean freight. The Group uses long-term contracts to hedge its freight exposure on biomass for its Generation business, and following the acquisition of Pinnacle, is taking steps to optimise freight requirements between production centres in the US Southeast and Western Canada, and end markets in Asia and Europe.

Generation

In the UK, the Group’s biomass and pumped storage generation assets have continued to play an important role providing stability to the UK power system at a time when higher gas prices, European interconnector issues, and periods of low wind have placed the system under increased pressure. The Group’s strong forward sold position means that it has not been a significant beneficiary of higher power prices from these activities in 2021 but has been able to increase forward hedged prices in 2022 and 2023.

In March, the Group’s two legacy coal units ended commercial generation activities and will formally close in September 2022 following the fulfilment of their Capacity Market obligations. Reflecting the system challenges described above, these units were called upon in the Balancing Mechanism by the system operator for limited operations in September and November. These short-term measures helped to stabilise the power system during periods of system stress and have not resulted in any material increase in the Group’s total carbon emissions.

In September, the Generation business experienced a two-week unplanned outage on one biomass unit operating under the ROC scheme. The unit’s contracted position in this period was bought back and the generation reprofiled across the two unaffected biomass ROC units and deferred until the fourth quarter. During this period, the Group’s pumped storage power station (Cruachan) provided risk mitigation from the operational or financial impact of any additional forced outages.

In November, the Generation business successfully completed a major 98 day planned outage on its biomass CfD unit, which included the third in a series of high-pressure turbine upgrades. Drax now expects the unit to benefit from thermal efficiency improvements and lower maintenance costs, incrementally reducing the cost of biomass generation at Drax Power Station.

Customers

The Group continues to expect the Customers business will return to profitability at the Adjusted EBITDA level for 2021, inclusive of an expected increase in mutualisation costs associated with the failure of a number of energy supply businesses in the second half of 2021. Separately, the Group is continuing to assess operational and strategic solutions to support the development of the SME(5) supply business.

Full year expectations

Reflecting these factors, the Group now expects that full year Adjusted EBITDA for 2021 will be around the top of the range of current analyst expectations(6), subject to good operational performance during December, including baseload running of all four biomass units. The Group’s financial expectations do not include any Balancing Mechanism activity in December for the coal units.

Drax continues to expect net debt to Adjusted EBITDA to return to around 2x by the end of 2022.

Negative emissions

In October, the UK Government selected the East Coast Cluster and Hynet as the first two regional clusters in the UK to take forward the development of the infrastructure required for carbon capture and storage. In addition, the UK Government published its Net Zero Strategy and Biomass Policy Statement, reaffirming the established international scientific consensus that sustainable biomass is renewable and indicating that it will play a critical role in helping the UK achieve its climate targets. It also signposted an ambition for at least 5Mt pa of negative emissions from BECCS and Direct Air Capture by 2030, 23Mt pa by 2035 and up to 81Mt pa by 2050. The reports commit the Government to the development during 2022 of a financial model to support the development of BECCS to meet these requirements.

The Group is continuing to progress its work on BECCS with the aim to develop 8Mt of negative CO2 emissions pa at Drax Power Station by 2030 and expects to make a decision on the commencement of a full design study in the coming weeks.

Generation contracted power sales

As at 25 November 2021, Drax had 34.3TWh of power hedged between 2021 and 2023 at £61.3/MWh as follows:

202120222023
Fixed price power sales (TWh)16.012.45.8
Of which ROC (TWh)10.810.15.8
Of which CfD (TWh)(7)(8)3.82.1-
Other (TWh)1.40.2-
Average achieved price (£ per MWh)54.070.7 61.2
Of which ROC (£ per MWh)56.961.161.2
Of which CfD (£ per MWh)(7)47.3118.3-
Of which Other (£ per MWh)50.058.2-

Since the Group’s last update on 29 July 2021, incremental power sales from the ROC units were 3.3TWh between 2022 and 2023, at an average price of £98.7/MWh.

Notes:
(1) Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, excluding the impact of exceptional items and certain remeasurements.
(2) BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage.
(3) Renewable Obligation Certificate.
(4) Contract for Difference.
(5) Small and Medium-size Enterprise.
(6) As at 26 November 2021 analyst consensus for 2021 Adjusted EBITDA was £380 million, with a range of £374-£391 million. The details of this company collected consensus are displayed on the Group’s website.
(7) The CfD biomass unit typically operates as a baseload unit, with power sold forward against a season ahead reference price. The CfD counterparty pays the difference between the season ahead reference price and the strike price. The contracted position therefore only includes CfD volumes and prices for the front six months.
(8) Expected annual CfD volumes of around 5TWh. Lower level of generation in 2021 unit due to major planned outage.

Enquiries:

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford
+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media:

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis
+44 (0) 7712 670 888

Website: www.drax.com

Forward Looking Statements
This announcement may contain certain statements, expectations, statistics, projections and other information that are or may be forward-looking. The accuracy and completeness of all such statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial position, strategy, projected costs, plans, investments, beliefs and objectives for the management of future operations of Drax Group plc (“Drax”) and its subsidiaries (the “Group”), including in respect of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (“Pinnacle”), together forming the enlarged business, are not warranted or guaranteed. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may occur in the future. Although Drax believes that the statements, expectations, statistics and projections and other information reflected in such statements are reasonable, they reflect the Company’s current view and beliefs and no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct. Such events and statements involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. There are a number of factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Group, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, factors such as: future revenues being lower than expected; increasing competitive pressures in the industry; and/or general economic conditions or conditions affecting the relevant industry, both domestically and internationally, being less favourable than expected; change in the policy of key stakeholders, including governments or partners or failure or delay in securing the required financial, regulatory and political support to progress the development of Drax and its operations. We do not intend to publicly update or revise these projections or other forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, and we do not assume any responsibility for doing so.

END

Half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2021

29 July 2021

Investors
Engineers walking in front of sustainable biomass wood pellet storage dome at Drax Power Station, June 2021

RNS Number: 8333G
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)

Six months ended 30 JuneH1 2021H1 2020
Key financial performance measures
Adjusted EBITDA (£ million)(1)(2)186179
Continuing operations165160
Discontinued operations – gas generation2119
Net debt (£ million)(3)1,029792
Adjusted basic EPS (pence)(1)14.610.8
Interim dividend (pence per share)7.56.8
Total financial performance measures from continuing operations
Operating profit / (loss) (£ million)84(57)
Profit / (loss) before tax (£ million)52(85)

Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax Group, said:

“We have had a great first half of the year, transforming Drax into the world’s leading sustainable biomass generation and supply company as well as the UK’s largest generator of renewable power.

“The business has performed well, and we have exciting growth opportunities to support the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner in the control room at Drax Power Station

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner in the control room at Drax Power Station

“Drax has reduced its generation emissions by over 90%, and we are very proud to be one of the lowest carbon intensity power generators in Europe – a huge transformation for a business which less than a decade ago operated the largest coal power station in Western Europe.

“In the past six months we have significantly advanced our plans for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the UK and globally. By 2030 Drax could be delivering millions of tonnes of negative emissions and leading the world in providing a critical technology needed to tackle the climate crisis.

“We are pleased to be announcing a 10% increase in our dividend, and we remain committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders.” 

Financial highlights

Pinnacle named ship

  • Adjusted EBITDA from continuing and discontinued operations up £7 million to £186 million (H1 2020: £179 million)
  • Acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (Pinnacle) for cash consideration of C$385 million (£222 million) (enterprise value of C$796 million) and sale of gas generation assets for £186 million
  • Strong liquidity and balance sheet
    • £666 million of cash and committed facilities at 30 June 2021
    • Refinancing of Canadian facilities (July 2021) with lower cost ESG facility following Pinnacle acquisition
  •  Sustainable and growing dividend – expected full year dividend up 10% to 18.8 pence per share (2020: 17.1p/share)
    • Interim dividend of 7.5 pence per share (H1 2020: 6.8p/share) – 40% of full year expectation

Strategic highlights

Kentaro Hosomi, Chief Regional Officer EMEA, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire

Kentaro Hosomi, Chief Regional Officer EMEA, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire

  • Developing complementary biomass strategies for supply, negative emissions and renewable power
  • Creation of the world’s leading sustainable biomass generation and supply company
    • Supply – 17 operational plants and developments across three major fibre baskets with production capacity of 4.9Mt pa and $4.3 billion of long-term contracted sales to high-quality customers in Asia and Europe
    • Generation – 2.6GW of biomass generation – UK’s largest source of renewable power by output
  • >90% reduction in generation emissions since 2012
    • Sale of gas generation assets January 2021 and end of commercial coal March 2021
  • Development of BECCS
    • Planning application submitted for Drax Power Station and technology partner (MHI) selected
    • Participation in East Coast Cluster – phase 1 regional clusters and projects to be selected from late 2021
    • Partnerships with Bechtel and Phoenix BioPower evaluating international BECCS and biomass technologies
  • System support – option to develop Cruachan from 400MW to over 1GW – commenced planning approval process

 Outlook

  • Adjusted EBITDA, inclusive of Pinnacle from 13 April 2021, full year expectations unchanged

Operational review

Pellet Production – acquisition of Pinnacle, capacity expansion and biomass cost reduction

close-up of truck raising and lowering

  • Sustainable sourcing
    • Biomass produced using forestry residuals and material otherwise uneconomic to commercial forestry
    • Science-based sustainability policy fully compliant with current UK, EU law on sustainable sourcing aligned with UN guidelines for carbon accounting
    • All woody biomass verified and audited against FSC®(4), PEFC or SBP requirements
  • Adjusted EBITDA (including Pinnacle since 13 April 2021) up 60% to £40 million (H1 2020: £25 million)
    • Pellet production up 70% to 1.3Mt (H1 2020: 0.8Mt)
    • Cost of production down 8% to $141/t(5) (H1 2020: $154/t(5))
  • Near-term developments in US Southeast (2021-22)
    • Commissioning of LaSalle expansion, Demopolis and first satellite plant in H2
  • Other opportunities for growth and cost reduction
    • Increased production capacity, supply of biomass to third parties and expansion of fuel envelope to include lower cost biomass

Generation – flexible and renewable generation

  • 12% of UK’s renewable electricity, strong operational performance and system support services
  • Adjusted EBITDA down 14% to £185 million (H1 2020: £214 million)
    • Biomass – Lower achieved power prices and higher GBP cost of biomass reflecting historical power and FX hedging
    • Strong system support (balancing mechanism, Ancillary Services and optimisation) of £70 million (H1 2020: £66 million) – additional coal operations and continued good hydro and pumped storage performance, in addition to coal operations
    • Coal – utilisation of residual coal stock in Q1 2021 and capture of higher power prices
  • Pumped storage / hydro – good operational and system support performance
    • £34 million of Adjusted EBITDA (Cruachan, Lanark, Galloway schemes and Daldowie) (H1 2020: £35 million)
  • Ongoing cost reductions to support operating model for biomass at Drax Power Station from 2027
    • End of commercial coal operations in March, formal closure September 2022 – reduction in fixed cost base
    • Major planned outage for biomass CfD unit – August to November 2021 – including third turbine upgrade delivering improved thermal efficiency and lower maintenance cost, supporting lower cost biomass operations
    • Trials to expand range of lower cost biomass fuels – up to 35% load achieved in test runs on one unit
  • Strong contracted power position – 29.3TWh sold forward at £52.1/MWh 2021-2023. Opportunities to capture higher power prices in future periods, subject to liquidity
As at 25 July 2021202120222023
Fixed price power sales (TWh) 15.99.14.3
-      CfD(6)3.80.6-
-      ROC10.88.44.0
-      Other1.30.10.3
At an average achieved price (£ per MWh)51.752.452.7

Customers – renewable electricity and services under long-term contracts to high-quality I&C customer base

 

  • Adjusted EBITDA loss of £5 million inclusive of £10-15 million impact of Covid-19 (H1 2020 £37 million loss inclusive of £44 million impact of Covid-19)
  • Continuing development of Industrial & Commercial (I&C) portfolio
    • Focusing on key sectors to increase sales to high-quality counterparties supporting generation route to market
    • Energy services expand the Group’s system support capability and customer sustainability objectives
  • Closure of Oxford and Cardiff offices as part of SME strategic review and the rebranding of the Haven Power I&C business to Drax
  • Continue to evaluate options for SME portfolio to maximise value and alignment with strategy

Other financial information

  • Total operating profit from continuing operations of £84 million including £20 million mark-to-market gain on derivative contracts and acquisition related costs of £10 million and restructuring costs of £2 million
  • Total loss after tax from continuing operations of £6 million including a £48 million charge from revaluing deferred tax balances following announcement of future UK tax rate changes
  • Total loss after tax from continuing operations of £6 million including a £48 million charge from revaluing deferred tax balances following confirmation of UK corporation tax rate increases from 2023
  • Capital investment of £71 million (H1 2020: £78 million) – continued investment in biomass strategy
    • Full year expectation of £210–230 million, includes pellet plant developments – LaSalle expansion, satellite plants and commissioning of Demopolis
  • Group cost of debt now below 3.5% reflecting refinancing of Canadian facilities in July 2021
  • Net debt of £1,029 million (31 December 2020: £776 million), including cash and cash equivalents of £406 million (31 December 2020: £290 million)
    • 5x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA, with £666 million of total cash and committed facilities (31 December 2020: £682 million)
    • Continue to expect around 2.0x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA by end of 2022
View complete half year report View investor presentation Listen to webcast

Refinancing of Pinnacle Debt with Lower Cost ESG Facility

13 July 2021

Investors
Demopolis wood pellet plant being constructed

RNS Number: 9930E
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)

Drax is pleased to announce that it has completed the refinancing of the Canadian dollar facilities it acquired as part of the Group’s acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (Pinnacle) in April 2021.

The new C$300 million term facility (“the Facility”) matures in 2024, with an option to extend by two years(1), and has a customary margin grid referenced over CDOR(2).

A Pinnacle wood pellet plant

A Pinnacle wood pellet plant

The Facility reduces further the Group’s all-in cost of debt to below 3.5% and includes an embedded ESG component which adjusts the margin payable based on Drax’s carbon intensity measured against an annual benchmark.

The Facility, along with surplus cash, replaces Pinnacle’s approximately C$435 million facilities which had a cost of over 5.5%.

Enquiries

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford

+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis

+44 (0) 7712 670 888

Website: www.Drax.com

END

Acquisition of Joint Venture Interest from Westervelt

1 July 2021

Investors

RNS Number : 7524D
Drax Group plc
(“Drax” or the “Group”; Symbol:DRX)

Drax is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire a 20% minority interest in Alabama Pellets, LLC (“Alabama Pellets”) – the joint venture which owns the Demopolis and Aliceville pellet plants – from The Westervelt Company (“Westervelt”) for $29.7 million cash consideration. The acquisition will increase the Group’s interest in Alabama Pellets to 90% and provide Drax with economic control over a further c.130,000 tonnes of biomass production capacity per annum. Completion is expected to take place in July 2021.

Westervelt is considered to be a Related Party under the UK Listing Rules with the proposed transaction constituting a Smaller Related Party Transaction under Listing Rule 11.1.10.

The acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. included a change of control provision over Alabama Pellets. Drax has been in discussions with Alabama Pellets joint venture partners regarding future working relationships, including their minority interests. The remaining joint venture partner, Two Rivers Lumber Co., LLC, holds a 10% economic interest.

Demopolis and Aliceville are located in Alabama, in the US southeast, close to the Group’s existing US operations and have a combined nameplate production capacity of 660,000 tonnes per annum. Aliceville was commissioned in 2018 and Demopolis is expected to be commissioned in 2021.

Drax Group has 13 operational pellet plants (including Aliceville) plus satellite plant developments and Demopolis, with total nameplate production capacity of 4.9 million tonnes per annum once commissioned. These plants are geographically diverse and sited in three major fibre baskets (British Columbia, Alberta and the US southeast) with access to four deep water ports providing routes to markets in Asia, Europe and the UK.

Enquiries

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford

+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis

+44 (0) 7712 670 888

Website: www.Drax.com

END

The world’s leading sustainable biomass generation and supply business

Will Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer, Drax Group

13 April 2021

Opinion

Today we completed a transformational deal – our acquisition of Canadian biomass pellet producer Pinnacle Renewable Energy.

I’m very excited about this important acquisition and welcoming our new colleagues to the Drax family – together we will build on what we have already achieved, having become the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe and the UK’s largest single site renewable power generator as a result of us using sustainable biomass instead of coal.

The deal positions Drax as the world’s leading sustainable biomass generation and supply business – making us a truly international business, trading biomass from North America to Europe and Asia. It also advances our strategy to increase our self supply, reduces our biomass production costs and creates a long-term future for sustainable biomass – a renewable energy source that the UN’s IPCC says will be needed to achieve global climate targets.

It’s also an important milestone in Drax’s ambition to become a carbon negative company by 2030 and play an important role in tackling the global climate crisis with our pioneering negative emissions technology BECCS.

That’s because increasing our annual production capacity of sustainable biomass while also reducing costs helps pave the way for our plans to use bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at Drax.

Negative emissions from BECCS are vital to address the global climate emergency while also providing the renewable electricity needed for a net zero economy, supporting jobs and clean growth in a post-Covid recovery.

Inside a Pinnacle pellet mill

Inside a Pinnacle pellet mill

We already know Pinnacle well – it is one of our key suppliers and the company is a natural fit with Drax.

Our new colleagues have a wealth of operational and commercial expertise so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.

We will benefit from Pinnacle’s scale, operational efficiency and low-cost fibre sourcing, that includes a high proportion of sawmill residues. In 2019, Pinnacle’s production cost was 20% lower than Drax’s.

Completing this deal will increase our annual production capacity to 4.9 million tonnes of sustainable biomass pellets at 17 plants in locations across Western Canada and the US South – up from 1.6Mt now.

It also expands our access to three major North American fibre baskets and four export facilities, giving us a large and geographically diversified asset base, which enhances our sourcing flexibility and security of supply.

This positions us well to take advantage of the global growth opportunities for sustainable biomass. The market for biomass wood pellets for renewable generation in Europe and Asia is expected to grow in the current decade, principally driven by demand in Asia.

Biomass wood pellet storage dome, Drax Power Station

Biomass wood pellet storage dome, Drax Power Station

We believe that with increasingly ambitious global decarbonisation targets, the need for negative emissions and improved understanding of the role that sustainably sourced biomass can play, will result in continued robust demand.

Pinnacle is already a key supplier of wood pellets to other markets with C$6.7 billion of long-term contracts with high quality Asian and European customers, including Drax, and a significant volume contracted beyond 2027.

Drax aims to leverage Pinnacle’s trading capability across its expanded portfolio. We believe that the enlarged supply chain will provide greater opportunities to optimise the supply of biomass from its own assets and third-party suppliers.

The transport and shipping requirements of the enlarged company will provide further opportunities to optimise delivery logistics, helping to reduce distance, time, carbon footprint and cost.

Train transporting biomass wood pellets arriving at Drax Power Station

Importantly – there will also be opportunities to share best practice and drive sustainability standards higher across the group.

We recognise that the forest landscape in British Columbia and Alberta is different to the commercially managed forests in the south eastern US where we currently operate.

In line with our world leading responsible sourcing policy, Drax will work closely with environmental groups, Indigenous First Nation communities and other stakeholders and invest to deliver good environmental, social and climate outcomes in Pinnacle’s sourcing areas.

We are determined to create a long-term future for sustainable biomass and deliver BECCS –  the negative emissions technology that will be needed around the world to meet global climate targets. The acquisition of Pinnacle takes us a big step forward in achieving our goals.

Read press release: Drax completes acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc.

 

Completion of the acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc.

Investors
Pinnacle named ship

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.

Enquiries:

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford

+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media:

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis

+44 (0) 7712 670 888

 

Satisfaction / waiver of conditions in relation to the proposed acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc.

7 April 2021

Investors

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.

Enquiries:

Drax Investor Relations: Mark Strafford

+44 (0) 7730 763 949

Media:

Drax External Communications: Ali Lewis

+44 (0) 7712 670 888