The white rose of York will appear on one of Drax Power Station’s cooling towers on Monday August 1 as the renewable energy company joins with other businesses and organisations across the county in marking the annual event, which promotes the historic county.
Drax Power Station near Selby in North Yorkshire, is the UK’s largest renewable power generator, producing enough renewable electricity for four million UK homes. It also now aims to deliver the world’s biggest carbon capture in power project using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Bruce Heppenstall, Drax Power Station Plant Director said:
“We’re proud to be part of the local community and wanted to do something special to celebrate Yorkshire Day.
“This is a county with a rich heritage in delivering innovative, first of a kind, projects, which have had a lasting impact here in Yorkshire and around the world. At Drax we hope to build on this tradition of innovation by developing the world’s biggest carbon capture in power project and becoming a global leader in the vital green energy technology BECCS.
“By delivering this critical negative emissions technology at this power station here in the heart of Yorkshire, Drax will support UK energy security as well as net zero, whilst creating thousands of jobs and exciting global export opportunities.”
Drax has submitted plans to build two BECCS units, creating and supporting tens of thousands of jobs across the North.
Work to build BECCS at Drax could start as soon as 2024 and once operational the two units combined will capture at least 8 million tonnes of CO2 per year, making it the largest carbon capture and storage project in power in the world.
The White Rose will be projected onto the 114m tall cooling tower at Drax Power Station from 9:00pm until 12:00am on Monday 1st August.
ENDS
Photo caption: The White Rose projection on Drax’s 350ft cooling tower will be visible for miles around.
Notes to editors:
Electricity has been generated at Drax since 1974 when it was developed by the Central Electricity Generating Board, in an area of Yorkshire known as Megawatt Valley due to a fleet of coal-fired power stations built there in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
Drax was the biggest and one of the most advanced and efficient coal-fired power stations ever built in the UK. Nearly five decades on, Drax has become the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe by using sustainable biomass.
From Yorkshire to the world – some of the county’s best loved innovations:
- Sheffield opened the world’s first football club in 1857
- The first commercially viable steam locomotive, called Salamanca, was designed and built by manufacturer Matthew Murray in 1812 – in Holbeck, West Yorkshire.
- Some say that cinema was invented in Leeds with the first piece of true film ever recorded there in 1888.
- In 1913 stainless steel was invented in Sheffield
- Catseyes, the road markings, were invented in 1934 by Percy Shaw in Halifax
- George Cayley, a Scarborough-born engineer, built the world’s first full-sized glider and in 1853, beat the Wright brothers to the sky by 50 years.
- Yorkshire puddings – the eponymous accompaniment to Sunday lunch, first appeared in a recipe book in 1737.
- Fizzy drinks were invented in Leeds in 1767
- Wensleydale Cheese made infamous by Wallace and Gromit, was first made in North Yorkshire by monks in the 1100s.
- Liquorice Allsorts, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Jelly Babies, Fruit Pastilles, Jelly Tots, Polo Mints and Kit-Kats are more recent 20th century delicacies which hail from Yorkshire.
Drax illuminated one of its cooling towers in blue lights in 2020 in recognition of the work of the NHS during the pandemic, and also projected a poppy onto the cooling towers to raise money for the Royal British Legion on Armistice Day.
Most recently, the cooling towers were lit up in red and blue to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
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 17 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
