Renewable energy leader Drax has announced that 30 organisations will receive £22,000 as part of the latest round of grants from its community fund.
The funding will go to 30 organisations in Yorkshire, where Drax owns and operates the UK’s largest power station. Drax Power Station near Selby, in North Yorkshire, generates enough reliable, renewable power for four million homes, using sustainable biomass and supports over 7,000 jobs, directly and throughout its supply chains, mainly in the North.
The donations, which range from £50 to £2,000, are for community-led projects and organisations, including schools, sports clubs, and community centres, helping to benefit the local communities near Drax Power Station.
Jane Breach, UK Community and Education Manager at Drax, said: “We are proud to support a diverse range of groups and projects in Yorkshire near our eponymous power station, helping to benefit the communities where we operate with the Drax Community Fund, established in 2023.”
“Drax is committed to being a good neighbour in the communities near Drax Power Station. This latest round of grants will help to support wonderful initiatives that empower young people with community sessions, offer schools much needed resources and provide local communities with equipment for seasonal celebrations.”
The groups in Yorkshire that will receive donations worth a total of £22,069 from the Drax Community Fund, include:
Henshaws Specialist College – A specialist college that works with students with special educational needs. £1000 has been awarded, which will be used to create a hair & beauty salon for students to learn new skills.
Door 84 Youth and Community Centre – A community centre for children, young people and the community in York. £750 has awarded for the ongoing provision of youth sessions at the centre.
South Milford Primary School – A Primary school in South Milford near Leeds. £1000 has been awarded for the school to buy resources & equipment for a new outdoor sensory garden for its children.
Eggborough Parish Council – The village of Eggborough is 9 miles away from Drax Power Station. The parish council have been awarded £750 towards funding for this year’s Christmas lights/motifs in the village.
Gemma Young, Senior Philanthropy Manager, Henshaws Specialist College said: “This new school of Hair & Beauty within our College will encourage our learners to practice and have some fun with independent living skills and self-care skills. Alongside this, it will give our students some brilliant experience within a vocational subject that can also support everyday life. From blow drying hair to painting nails, this space will allow our students to bond and to learn from each other in a relaxed and fun environment”
ENDS
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About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
