Construction starts on Drax’s second biomass pellet plant in Arkansas
Archives: Press Release
Leading B2B renewable energy supplier changes its name to Drax
- The name change marks the next step in the renewable energy supplier’s journey to help businesses and organisations become more sustainable, supporting the UK’s climate goals
- The rebrand follows the launch of Drax Electric Vehicles and Drax Electric Assets and aims to offer a partnership approach for customers, supporting the UK’s journey to net zero
B2B renewable energy supplier Haven Power is changing its name to Drax, to deliver the products and services businesses and organisations need in order to support UK efforts to reach net zero.
Haven Power was acquired by Drax Group in 2009 and supplies more than 20,000 large industrial and commercial customers with over 12TWh of renewable sourced electricity each year – the equivalent annual power use of more than three million homes.
With the rebrand, Drax aims to partner with its business customers to support them in achieving their sustainability goals, delivering innovative solutions which help them optimise their energy use, reduce carbon emissions, and minimise costs.
The name change follows the launch of Drax Electric Vehicles, and Drax Electric Assets, which help businesses take control of their energy use through the electrification of their fleets and the optimisation of their operations.
Paul Sheffield, Managing Director of Drax’s supply businesses, said:
“Drax has an impressive track record in sustainability – we’ve reduced Drax Group’s carbon footprint by more than 90% in less than a decade.
“By more closely aligning our supply business to Drax, we can better support businesses and organisations with their own net zero ambitions using Drax’s scale, knowledge and expertise in decarbonisation. It also demonstrates our commitment to enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future for our customers.”
Drax plans to deploy vital negative emissions technology, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), at its power station in North Yorkshire. This will permanently remove eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year by 2030.
With the creation of a voluntary carbon market, business customers could purchase the permanent and verifiable negative emissions from Drax, helping difficult to decarbonise industries offset their own emissions. This supports efforts to decarbonise the UK’s economy, protects jobs, and demonstrate climate leadership.
To find out more about the products and services available from Drax for businesses go to the website energy.drax.com
ENDS
Media contacts
Ben Wicks
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 0776 1525 662
Notes to editors
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.
For more information visit energy.drax.com.
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.
Drax is already the largest decarbonisation project in Europe following the conversion of Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable biomass instead of coal. The company now plans to go further and become carbon negative by 2030 by deploying the vital negative emissions technology, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, which will capture and permanently lock away more than 8Mt of CO2 per year.
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.
Pellet production and supply
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
Drax calls for UK supply chain to deliver climate saving negative emissions technology
- New programme of nationwide events will encourage British businesses to work with renewable energy pioneer Drax to deliver its multi-billion-pound climate-saving negative emissions technology – bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
- Events series marks a crucial step on Drax’s journey to deliver this pioneering technology in the 2020s.
- Event launch comes as Drax prepares to start a major public consultation on its BECCS plans in November, offering stakeholders and communities the chance to learn more about the project.
The company will be hosting a series of nationwide events throughout 2022 in partnership with the West & North Yorkshire and Hull & Humber Chambers of Commerce, as well as further events across the wider North, Midlands and South of England. These will enable Drax to identify a robust supply chain for BECCS, ensuring the project can be accelerated as soon as planning approval is received.
The event series will start with an introductory webinar on Thursday September 23, 2021, run with business support organisation NOF. The initial event will give new and prospective suppliers the opportunity to learn more about the BECCS project, as well as how they can be involved in delivering this vital negative emissions technology.
Graham Backhouse, Drax’s Commercial Director for the BECCS project, said:
“Negative emissions technologies like BECCS will play a vital role in enabling the UK to reach its net zero goals. At its peak, BECCS at Drax will protect and create over 10,000 jobs, levelling up the north, and positioning the UK as a global leader in this climate-saving technology.
“This programme of events is a fantastic opportunity for businesses of all sizes to get involved and learn more about the project, and we want to encourage a range of companies from across the country to take part.”
Drax has a proven track record in delivering ambitious and pioneering infrastructure projects – the conversion of its power station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable biomass instead of coal has enabled it to become the UK’s largest single site renewable generator, reducing its emissions by over 90% and paving the way for the deployment of BECCS.
The event takes place ahead of a formal public consultation on Drax’s BECCS plans in November, when stakeholders including local communities will be able to learn more about the proposed project and provide their feedback.
Businesses which are interested in attending the introductory supplier event webinar on September 23, or the event series more generally and how they can be involved, can register their interest via www.drax.com/uk/supplierevent.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Ben Wicks
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07761 525 662
Editor’s Notes
- Leading climate scientists at the UN’s IPCC and UK Climate Change Committee have said that the world cannot address the climate crisis without negative emissions from technologies like BECCS, which permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- Work to build BECCS at Drax could get underway as soon as 2024, with the creation of thousands of jobs.
- Subject to the right regulatory support, the first BECCS unit could be operational in 2027, with the second commissioned in 2030, enabling Drax to achieve its world-leading ambition to be a carbon negative company by 2030.
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.
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.
Pellet production and supply:
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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:
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
About NOF
NOF are business development experts for the energy sector. The organisation works on behalf of members and wider supply chain to put companies of all sizes in touch with the best and most innovative supply chain businesses in the UK.
Our services include: Business development, Industry introductions and events
NOF works with major businesses in the energy sector as a valuable supply chain partner connecting companies to projects
‘Renewable energy apprentices’ kickstart careers at Drax
Pic caption: L-R: Poppy Johnson-Roberts, Chloe Wrightham, Lewis White, Drax Group Operations Director Mike Maudsley, Plant Director Bruce Heppenstall, Daniel Penistone, Sam Easthill, Dylan Hall Parkes and Patrick Harpham
Renewable energy company Drax is welcoming seven apprentice engineers as part of its efforts to create career development opportunities in the North and ensure it has the best in-house talent to support its ambitious decarbonisation plans.
The apprentice engineers have won places on the technical apprenticeship scheme at Drax Power Station near Selby in North Yorkshire – the UK’s largest single site renewable power generator, which produces enough renewable electricity for four million homes.
The four-year programme gives new recruits the opportunity to gain expertise working alongside the world-class engineers at Britain’s biggest power station which has become one of Europe’s largest decarbonisation projects following its conversion from coal to using sustainable wood pellets.
Mike Maudsley, Drax Group’s UK Portfolio Generation Director said:
“I started my career as an apprentice and meeting our new renewable energy apprentices is one of the highlights of my job. Providing these young people with the tools needed to become the skilled workforce of the future is not only essential to the success of our business, it’s also an incredibly rewarding part of what we do.
“Giving our apprentices the opportunity to work on the cutting-edge, environmental technologies of the future will ensure we’re nurturing our in-house talent and creating opportunities for people here in the North to lead the green energy revolution needed to get the UK to net zero, supporting a post-covid economic recovery.”
Patrick Harpham, aged 19 from Selby, who has joined Drax as a mechanical apprentice, said:
“I’m really pleased to have the opportunity to be part of the new intake of apprentices at Drax and proud to be starting my career with a company that is so committed to tackling global climate change. I’m also very proud to be following in the footsteps of my great grandfather and grandad, both of whom spent much of their careers at the power station. This family history is what has always inspired me to want to become an engineer.”
Mechanical apprentice Poppy Johnson-Roberts, aged 18 from Cleethorpes, said:
“I chose to apply for an apprenticeship with Drax because it is an innovative company which is always developing and looking to the future. I also feel like it’s a great opportunity for me and will open up so many potential career pathways as Drax is committed to helping young people develop their skills.”
The apprentices beginning their careers at Drax Power Station this year are:
- Chloe Wrightham,18, from Grimsby
- Daniel Penistone, 17, from Selby
- Dylan Hall Parkes,18, from Doncaster
- Lewis White, 23, from Grimsby
- Patrick Harpham, 19, from Selby
- Poppy Johnson-Roberts, 18, from Cleethorpes
- Sam Easthill, 21, from Cliffe, near Selby.
L-R: Daniel Penistone, Chloe Wrightham, Poppy Johnson-Roberts, Drax Group Operations Director Mike Maudsley, Plant Director Bruce Heppenstall, Sam Easthill, Lewis White, Dylan Hall Parkes and Patrick Harpham
They will be trained within the maintenance department of the power station, with three of them in mechanical roles and four working alongside the electrical and instrumentation team.
Drax plans to become carbon negative by 2030 by using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) which it aims to start developing at the power station as soon as 2024 with the creation of thousands of jobs.
The first BECCS unit would be operational in 2027 with a second in 2030, permanently removing a total of eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, making a significant contribution to the UK’s efforts to address the climate crisis, whilst generating the renewable electricity the country needs.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
T: 07849090368
Megan Hopgood
Media and PR Intern
T: 07936350175
Editor’s Notes
The apprentices will start work on-site at Drax once they have completed formal training at the Humberside Engineering Training Association.
Drax offers apprenticeships in business support areas as well as engineering disciplines and is in the process of recruiting two cyber security and two facilities apprentices who will start work in October. All opportunities are advertised on the Drax website.
Drax has been running an apprenticeship scheme at its North Yorkshire power station for almost two decades and also runs several internships and graduate schemes as part of its dedication to improving skills and increasing opportunities for young people across the region.
The energy company is also committed to helping its existing employees to boost their skills to ensure they are ready to work on new green technologies liked BECCS. Around 80 employees across the group are studying for apprenticeship qualifications.
Throughout the Covid pandemic Drax has continued to invest in young people and supported its communities through several initiatives, including:
- Providing over 1,200 laptops with internet access to schools and colleges to support students with home learning
- Creating free virtual tours of Drax’s power stations as an additional educational resource
- Offering virtual work experience programmes to boost skills and employability
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.
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.
Pellet production and supply:
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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:
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
Drax support for US South forest initiative helps quail return to family land after 40-year hiatus
Drax expands virtual work experience programme to boost employability for even more young people
- Drax Group is offering students a virtual insight into the world of work as part of the energy company’s continued commitment to STEM education, supporting its efforts to increase social mobility for one million people.
- The programme, which is running online this week from 16-20 August, has been extended from four to five days and made available to a wider audience.
- After the success of the first virtual work experience week in April, the energy company has decided to run additional events to give even more students the opportunity to take part.
Britain’s biggest power station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, has expanded its virtual work experience programme to offer even more young people insights into the workplace and boost employability and skills.
The energy company first launched virtual work experience as a result of not being able to run its usual on-site work experience programmes due to Covid restrictions, and has decided to continue the programme after receiving a positive response from those who took part.
Engineering student Tahmid Md, who took part in the previous virtual work experience programme, said:
“Work experience at Drax was a great week and I learnt a lot from the programme. The CV building and interview sessions were especially helpful, and I really enjoyed the engineering projects I took part in.”
Drax colleagues have put together a five-day online programme which enables more students to participate from across England, who may previously have found it difficult to take part, due to barriers preventing their attendance, such as geography, opportunity, and economic factors.
The work experience programme is part of Drax’s Mobilising a Million initiative, which aims to increase social mobility by creating opportunities to further education and improve employability, ensuring the country has the skilled workforce needed to support a post-covid, green economic recovery.
Drax Group’s Head of Sustainable Business, Alan Knight, said:
“We work closely with schools in our communities to inspire children from all backgrounds to study STEM subjects, so the next generation has the education and skills needed to support businesses like ours as we continue to develop and grow.
“Virtual Work Experience builds on the work we did during lockdown to provide laptops, free internet access and virtual tours of the power station to ensure no students were left behind in their studies.”
Department of Education Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan said:
“It’s brilliant to see businesses like Drax offering virtual opportunities for young people to learn about and prepare for the world of work.
“As the energy market is changing there are new green jobs opening up for employees. Offering young people the chance to explore these new opportunities in the workplace is vital to shape their career goals, and help them to discover the wide range of choices available for their future.”
Students who applied to take part in Drax’s virtual work experience programme aged 14-18 could choose from four different business streams: Engineering, Business Support, IT & Project Management and Finance. They will learn about the energy company, focusing on developing employability skills and learning about their business area through conversations with employees and targeted projects. They will also have the opportunity to ask members of Drax’s executive committee about their careers during a Q&A session.
This year’s Covid lockdown resulted in many students being home schooled for months, so the Drax virtual work experience programme is taking place during the Summer Holidays, so that participants do not miss any more vital classroom time during the school term.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Ben Wicks
Media Manager
T: 07761525662
Megan Hopgood
Media and PR Intern
T: 07936350175
Editor’s Notes
Now that Covid restrictions have eased, Drax intends to resume its usual work experience programme on site, but it will continue to host a virtual programme online as well.
Drax announced its Mobilising a Million initiative earlier this year, when it published its Opportunity Action Plan in partnership with the Social Mobility Pledge led by former Education Secretary, the Rt Hon Justine Greening.
Drax is committed to supporting the communities local to its operations. It has invested more than £840,000 to support its customers and local communities during the Covid-19 crisis including donating over 1,200 laptops to schools and colleges across the country, helping to make sure children without access to computers or the internet at home, were not left behind in their studies during the Covid crisis.
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.
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.
Pellet production and supply:
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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:
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
Drax commences major turbine upgrade to drive down cost of biomass power generation
Work has begun at Drax Power Station to upgrade one of its turbines and complete a major £40m investment in Europe’s largest renewable power generator in North Yorkshire.
Over the next four months, more than 1,000 contractors will work around the clock to enhance the performance of one of the station’s four biomass units and improve its efficiency. The work will include installing a new high-pressure turbine barrel, new pipework and surveying the station’s boilers as part of Drax’s plans to reduce the cost of its biomass power generation by around a third by 2027.
The upgrade is the third and final upgrade as part of a £40m investment programme in the station’s turbines which started in 2019.
Mike Maudsley, Drax Group’s UK Portfolio Generation Director, said:
“These turbine upgrades will improve the plant’s efficiency, ensuring Drax can continue to generate the reliable, renewable electricity millions of homes and businesses across the UK rely on, beyond 2027.
“It’s also a huge boost to the region’s economy, with more than a thousand contractors working on site during the project – that’s in addition to the 6,600 jobs supported throughout Drax’s supply chains in the North.”
The power station has been transformed in recent years from using coal, to generating renewable power with sustainable biomass – cutting carbon emissions by more than 90% since 2012 making Drax one of the lowest carbon intensity generators in Europe.
Drax plans to go even further by becoming carbon negative by 2030 by using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Earlier this year Drax progressed its plans for BECCS – selecting Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as its technology partner and kickstarting the planning process to develop BECCS at Drax this decade.
Subject to the right government support, work to build BECCS could get underway as soon as 2024 with the creation of thousands of jobs. The first BECCS unit at Drax Power Station would then be operational in 2027 with a second in 2030, permanently removing at least 8 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
Editor’s Notes
- The turbine upgrade is part of a three-year £40m investment programme which started in 2019.
- In the first half of 2021, Drax Power Station generated 7.6TWh of renewable power from sustainable biomass, enough to supply over 5 million households.
- Drax stopped using its coal units for commercial power generation in March 2021 and they will close completely in September 2022 when its existing capacity market agreements come to end.
- Drax kickstarted the planning process to develop BECCS at Drax in March and announced MHI would be providing the technology required for BECCS at Drax in June.
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.
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.
Pellet production and supply:
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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:
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
Drax Group CEO responds to the NIC’s report on engineered greenhouse gas removals
“The publication of the NIC’s report further demonstrates the significant role engineered greenhouse gas removal technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture and storage will play in enabling the UK reach its net zero target. However, urgent action is required within the next decade to support their roll out if the government is to meet its climate obligations.
“Deploying BECCS at Drax will not only save the UK billions of pounds over the next decade; as the government’s own analysis shows, it will be vital if the UK is to meet the targets set out in the fifth and sixth carbon budgets.
“It will also see the creation of a major new infrastructure sector in the UK which could rival the size of the UK’s water sector, creating, and protecting tens of thousands of jobs across the north, levelling up the UK and positioning us as a global leader in negative emissions technologies.”
Editor’s Notes
- The NIC report is recommending that the government commits to deploying engineered removals at scale by 2030 and publish a plan to do so by no later than the end of 2022.
- By 2030 engineered removals should be delivering between 5MtCO2 and 10MtCO2 of negative emissions per year.
- By 2030 the engineered removals sector could be receiving revenues of approx. £2bn per year rising to £10s of bn by 2050.
- The first BECCS unit at Drax could be operational by 2027 with the second by 2030.
- The two units could capture up to 8Mt of CO2 per year. 80% of the amount the NIC states will be needed by 2030.
- BECCS is the lowest cost engineered method to permanently capture and store carbon for hundreds of years.
- BECCS at Drax will save the UK more than £13bn to meet the 5th Carbon Budget according to research from leading energy consultancy Baringa.
Drax cuts emissions by over 90% to become one of Europe’s lowest carbon power generators
- Once the biggest coal fired power station in Western Europe, Drax has now slashed its CO2 emissions from power generation by over 90 percent since 2012, radically transforming the company and securing its place as one of Europe’s lowest carbon utilities.
- Using sustainable biomass and hydro, in the first half of 2021 Drax became a purely renewable power generator, producing 12% of the UK’s renewable electricity – enough to power over 5 million homes and support the deployment of intermittent renewables such as wind and solar.
- And by deploying bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at the power station, Drax is set to go even further – generating the negative emissions needed to meet the UK’s net zero climate target while delivering jobs and clean growth in the North.
British renewable energy company Drax Group has cut the carbon emissions from its power generation by over 90 per cent in under a decade, becoming one of Europe’s lowest carbon intensity power generators and moving it closer to achieving its world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030.
Formerly the largest coal power station in Western Europe, Drax has this year ended commercial coal generation, sold its existing gas assets and transformed itself into one of the region’s primary decarbonisers – it is now a purely renewable power generator.
Drax has also made significant progress in the first half of 2021 with plans to deploy the world’s largest carbon capture project by fitting critical negative emissions technology BECCS at the power plant in North Yorkshire.
Deploying BECCS at Drax could enable the renewable energy company to make an even greater contribution to carbon reductions in the coming decade, while creating jobs and supporting the UK’s green transition.
Engineers walking in front of sustainable biomass wood pellet storage dome at Drax Power Station, June 2021 [view/download for print or digital]
Drax Group CEO, Will Gardiner, said:
“Cutting Drax’s carbon emissions by more than 90% in under a decade is a unique achievement and is transformational – both for our business and the environment.
“Replacing fossil fuels with clean power from renewables like sustainable biomass and hydro has enabled the UK’s electricity system to decarbonise faster than any other major economy, but industry needs to go further than just reducing emissions — to permanently removing the CO2 in the atmosphere if the UK is to achieve its ambitious climate targets.
Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner in the control room at Drax Power Station [Click to view/download]
“By deploying BECCS, Drax will be leading the way in permanently removing millions of tonnes of CO2 while generating renewable power and supporting clean growth and thousands of jobs in the 2020s.
“BECCS is the only technology available now which can deliver the negative emissions the world needs to meet the climate commitments set out in Paris in 2015, whilst also generating the reliable renewable electricity the world needs.”
In the first half of the year Drax progressed its plans for BECCS – selecting Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as its technology partner and kickstarting the planning process to develop BECCS at Drax this decade.
It also started to explore overseas opportunities for BECCS with Bechtel, including in North America, and next generation BECCS technologies with Phoenix BioPower, creating further potential opportunities for the UK to export a critical technology that will be needed around the world.
Subject to the right government support, the first BECCS unit at Drax Power Station could be operational in 2027 with a second in 2030, permanently removing at least 8 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
It would be the world’s largest carbon capture power project, delivering a significant proportion of the negative emissions the UK needs to meet its climate targets.
Pinnacle’s Lavington, British Columbia wood pellet plant [click to view/download]
Drax is now the world’s leading integrated sustainable biomass generation and supply business, with access to global markets from Europe to the Far East.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Selina Williams
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07912 230 393
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849 090 368
Editor’s Notes
- Graphs showing Drax carbon intensity per unit of electricity generated compared to other European power generators’ carbon intensity.
- In 2012 Drax used around 10 million tonnes of coal a year to produce enough electricity to keep the lights on for around 6 million households.
- In the first half of 2021, Drax Power Station generated 7.6TWh of renewable power from sustainable biomass, enough to supply over 5 million households.
- Drax announced a good operational and financial performance in its H1 2021 results published today.
- Drax sold its gas power stations to VPI in February 2021
- Drax stopped using its coal units for commercial power generation in March 2021 and they will close completely in September 2022 when its existing capacity market agreements come to end.
- The acquisition of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc completed in April
- Drax kickstarted the planning process to develop BECCS at Drax in March and announced MHI would be providing the technology required for BECCS at Drax in June
- For international BECCS, Drax is working with Bechtel to explore options for new build projects globally while also studying more efficient next generation BECCS technologies with Phoenix BioPower.
- A recent report from McKinsey for the Coalition for Negative Emissions showed that at least 1 Gigatonne a year of negative emissions from BECCS is needed globally by 2025 to keep global warming within the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- Main photo caption: Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire [click to view/download for print or digital]
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.
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.
Pellet production and supply:
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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 20% 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:
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
