The energy company is offering interactive sessions for students and teachers in S4 – 6 to raise awareness of the apprenticeships that Drax and other businesses have to offer.
The sessions will be available to schools local to Drax’s operations in Scotland which includes Cruachan Power Station, Daldowie Fuel Plant and the Lanark and Galloway Hydro-electric Schemes.
The masterclasses will include an overview of everything related to apprenticeships and the opportunities that are available, tips for the application process and a Q&A session with one of Drax’s own apprentices. Students will also receive a writing guide to help them develop or polish up their CVs.
Karen McKeever, Drax’s Chief HR Officer, said:
“Drax is committed to championing and supporting people in their early careers. Hiring and developing a talented workforce of the future is essential for an innovative business like Drax. National Apprenticeship Week is a great opportunity to demonstrate the value of apprenticeships and highlight them as a potential career pathway.”
The ‘Apprenticeships at Drax: What You Need to Know’ sessions will take place on Wednesday 9th and Friday 11th March. Teachers and students can register to take part online.
Drax’s long-running apprenticeship scheme is part of its commitment to developing new talent as well as upskilling the workforce across the region. Drax has 52 apprentices as well as 50 existing employees working towards apprenticeship qualifications within the business. Find out more about apprenticeships at Drax here.
Photo caption: Apprentices from Drax’s sites in Scotland
ENDS
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
Editor’s Notes
Drax has been running an apprenticeship scheme for almost two decades at its eponymous power station in North Yorkshire. In recent years it has extended this across the whole business in the UK, as well as offering internships and graduate schemes as part of its dedication to improving skills and increasing opportunities for young people. For more details go to www.drax.com/careers.
Drax’s craft apprenticeship scheme gives new recruits the opportunity to gain skills and expertise by working alongside highly qualified engineers. It is a four-year programme, and specialises in three engineering disciplines: Mechanical, Electrical and Control & Instrumentation. In addition to engineering disciplines, Drax also offers apprenticeship qualifications in business support areas such as HR, cyber security, and administration. For current vacancies, go to https://www.drax.com/careers/apprenticeships/.
Drax also recently transferred some of its apprenticeship levy to allow smaller local businesses to hire apprentices as part of its commitment to supporting the communities near to its operations.
Drax runs a number of other initiatives to support STEM education and skills, including:
- Providing laptops with free internet access to support students with home learning.
- Free virtual tours of Drax’s power stations
- Virtual STEM workshops in schools.
- Virtual work experience.
Drax is moving forward with ambitious plans to build a new underground pumped storage hydro plant at its existing Cruachan facility in Argyll, Scotland. The new 600MW station would be built within a new, hollowed-out cavern that would be large enough to fit Big Ben on its side.
Around 900 jobs would be created and indirectly supported during the new power station’s construction, providing a huge boost to communities around Loch Awe and across Argyll.
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.
Its 3,400 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 4Mt 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 13 operational pellet plants with nameplate capacity of c.4Mt, plus a further two plants currently commissioning and other developments/expansions which will increase this to c.5Mt once complete.
Drax is targeting 8Mt of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3Mt 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 mills supply around 30% of the biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.
Customers:
Drax is the largest supplier of renewable electricity to UK businesses, supplying 100% renewable electricity as standard to more than 370,000 sites through Drax and Opus Energy.
It offers 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
