Archives: Press Release

Drax CEO responds to BEIS Smart Systems & Flexibility Plan

22 July 2021

Press releases
Reservoir above Cruachan Power Station

“This report by BEIS is an important first step towards removing barriers to building new, innovative long-duration storage projects in the UK. As made clear in the report, increasing Britain’s storage capacity is vital to decarbonising our economy and reaching net zero.

“We need to stop renewable power from going to waste by storing it, and Drax is progressing plans to build the UK’s first new pumped storage hydro power station in a generation at our Cruachan site. Our plans to expand Cruachan will unlock more renewable electricity to power homes and businesses across the country, and support hundreds of new jobs in rural Scotland.

“Drax looks forward to working with the Government and the wider energy industry to unlock the transformative potential of these technologies”

Drax CEO Will Gardiner on top of dam above Cruachan Power Station, Argyll and Bute

Drax CEO Will Gardiner on top of dam above Cruachan Power Station, Argyll and Bute [click to view/download]

ENDS

Media contacts

Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368

 Editor’s Notes

  • You can read the Smart Systems & Flexibility Plan here.
  • BEIS describe long duration storage as “essential for achieving net zero”.
  • Over the coming months the Government has committed to work with industry to “take actions to de-risk investment for large scale and long duration storage”.
  • BEIS has issued a call for evidence on removing barriers and will respond in early 2022.
  • Drax has begun the planning process to build a new underground pumped hydro storage power station at Cruachan which will more than doubling the site’s electricity generating capacity.
  • The 600 megawatt (MW) power station will be located inside Ben Cruachan – Argyll’s highest mountain – and increase the site’s total capacity to 1 gigawatt (GW).
  • No investment decision has yet been taken and development remains subject to the right regulatory framework with the UK Government.
  • Main image pic caption: Reservoir above Cruachan Power Station [click to view/download]

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

Drax Group CEO responds to National Grid ESO’s Future Energy Scenarios 2021

12 July 2021

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

“The critical role that BECCS at Drax will play in decarbonising the economy and reaching net zero is made clear by the National Grid Future Energy Scenarios report. Drax stands ready to invest in this vital technology – with the right support from government we could be permanently removing eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year by 2030 – playing a significant part in the UK’s efforts to address the climate crisis and keep the lights on, whilst creating jobs and clean growth.”

View the full report here. 

Schoolchildren rise to Drax’s recycled robot challenge

Press releases
Children with robots

Primary school pupils have built their own robots from recycled materials as part of an initiative developed by Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, to boost STEM education and skills.

The Visitor Centre Team at Drax Power Station has worked with colleagues at Doncaster College and University Centre to develop the STEM box project, an engaging activity for students to take part in relating to the subject areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

A group of students aged between seven and ten at Sunnyfields Primary School in Scawthorpe, have been provided with individual activity boxes containing a range of learning materials, games and resources they will need to build their robots, the focus of which is on recycling and forms part of their school curriculum.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, many pupils have struggled to engage with home-schooling and projects like the STEM box provide a valuable opportunity to transition back into the school routine and get students enthusiastic about learning again.

The robots are made from recyclable materials that can be found around the house such as bottles, tin cans and cardboard and have been designed to carry out recycling tasks such as having magnetic hands to pick up metal, or built-in compartments to store paper.

Students also received a video recorded by the visitor centre guides to provide them with instructions. Once covid restrictions are relaxed, they intend to deliver this introduction in person in schools, as well as providing a visit to the power station as part of the project to help students understand the important role that recycling plays there.

Drax Group’s Head of Sustainable Business, Alan Knight, said:

“By providing schools with these resources we hope to further students’ understanding of the importance of recycling and hopefully fire up their imaginations and inspire them to study STEM subjects by showing them the wide range of career options that are available.”

Liane Clark from Children’s University at Doncaster College said, “Children’s University (CU) are excited to share this fantastic project with our CU schools to create an enriching learning experience that will inspire our future working generation. Our partnership with Drax has enabled a unique learning opportunity, which we hope will encourage children to deepen their knowledge and have a positive impact on their future.”

Children at Sunnyfields Primary School are the first to take part in the project which the Drax Power Station Visitor Centre Team plan to roll out to other schools across the region after the summer holidays.

Teacher Chloe Hoogwerf said:

“The students had a great time taking part in the STEM box programme, learning about Drax, and building the recycling robots. Activities like these are so important as it really brings the subject to life and gets students enthusiastic about STEM, as well as encouraging them to start thinking about careers they might enjoy in the future.”

Drax has a long tradition of supporting education and helping to inspire the next generation of engineers by encouraging interest in STEM subjects. Earlier this year, Drax announced its Mobilising a Million ambition which aims to increase social mobility and provide levelling up opportunities for a million people by 2025.

As well as the STEM box project, during the Covid pandemic Drax launched a virtual work experience programme, renewed its partnership with Selby College with a £180,000 contribution to support skills and training, and provided over 1,200 laptops with free internet access to school pupils across the country to ensure that students don’t miss out on valuable learning during the lockdown.

Pic caption: Sunnyfields Primary School Teacher Chloe Hoogwerf with Key Stage 2 pupils Oliver, Lilly and Lilly-Mae

ENDS

Media contacts:

Ben Wicks
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07761525662

Megan Hopgood
Media and PR Intern
E: [email protected]
T: 07936350175

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

Drax launches £500 grants for education and skills charities in Scotland

29 June 2021

Press releases

Drax’s Charity Committee has a dedicated fund for supporting good causes local to its operations in Scotland, which include Cruachan Power Station, Daldowie Fuel Plant and the Lanark and Galloway Hydro Schemes.

It accepts funding requests that will have a positive impact on the local community by supporting the company’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education outreach work and improving skills and employability.

Last year, Drax provided a £636,000 support package for communities which included donating laptops to schools to support students with home schooling, free energy for small care homes and launched virtual tours and work experience programmes to keep STEM learning opportunities open during the pandemic.

Alan Knight, Group Director of Sustainability and Chair of the Charity Committee, said:

“Drax has a long history of supporting the communities local to its operations. It’s vital that businesses like Drax play their part in boosting education and employability so people are equipped with the relevant skills to support a green economy.

“We welcome applications from organisations which share Drax’s aims of boosting social mobility or improving the local area.”

Lochnell Primary School in Benderloch, Argyll, recently received support from the Drax Charity Committee. Headteacher Louise Chisholm said:

“We are grateful to Drax for its ongoing support for education and skills – it makes a real difference to the students’ experience which is so important – especially during the challenges of the last year. We’ve used the latest funding to further develop our children’s curiosity and skills in computing and science by purchasing Lego WeDo kits which allow the children to build and program their own projects.”

Charities and community organisations local to Drax’s operations which support STEM and education outreach, skills and employability, or which work to improve local communities, can apply for up to £500 per year from Drax.

Drax recently began the planning process to build a new underground pumped hydro storage power station that will more than double the electricity generating capacity of the iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan facility. The project will support almost 900 jobs in rural areas across Scotland during construction and will provide critical storage capacity needed to support a net zero power system.

To request an application form, email [email protected] or fill out an enquiry form on the Drax website.

Main image caption: In April, Drax donated 60 laptops to schools across Scotland

ENDS

Media contacts:

Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849 090 368

Megan Hopgood
Media Intern
E: [email protected]
T: 07936350175

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

Progress Power prepares for development commencement

28 June 2021

Press releases

Work has started to prepare the Eye Airfield Site in Suffolk so that development of Progress Power – a rapid response power station, can get underway later this year.

The work is in accordance with the conditions of the Development Consent Order extension granted by the Secretary of State the State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 27 July 2020.

As part of the plans, work to erect a new perimeter fence around the site will begin on 28 July 2021 ahead of work to build the new power station, which will play an important role in supporting the electricity system as more wind and solar power come online.

Copies of the application, the Secretary of State’s decision and accompanying documents, plans and maps are available for inspection here.

You can also view the application and its accompanying documents, plans and maps via the Planning Inspectorate’s website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/eastern/progress-power-station/?ipcsection=overview.

If you require a hard copy of the application and its accompanying documents, plans and maps, please contact Progress Power Limited at [email protected] or on 020 8392 8250.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368

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 2,900 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

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 two thirds of 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.

Customers:

Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.

Pellet production:

Drax owns and operates three pellet mills in the US South which manufacture compressed wood pellets (biomass) produced from sustainably managed working forests. These pellet mills supply around 20% of the biomass used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

Drax Group CEO responds to CCC’s Progress Report to Parliament

24 June 2021

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

“Today’s CCC report is another reminder that if the UK is to meet its ambitious climate targets there is an urgent need to scale up bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). As the world’s leading generator and supplier of sustainable bioenergy there is no better place to deliver BECCS at scale than at Drax in the UK.

“We are ready to invest in and deliver this world-leading green technology, which would support clean growth in the north of England, create tens of thousands of jobs and put the UK at the forefront of combatting climate change.”

Notes to editors

  • The first BECCS unit at Drax could be operational as soon as 2027, with Drax capturing and storing at least 8 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030.
  • BECCS at Drax will permanently remove millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere and help the UK’s most carbon intensive industrial area to decarbonise quickly and cost effectively.
  • Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) vital for net zero with BECCS requiring a commercial scale plant by the late 2020s underpinned by a tranmsport and storage (T&S) network.
  • Progress towards delivering GGR targets will be reported in next year’s Climate Change Committee progress report and, in the meantime, over the next year BEIS should develop policies on governance and support mechanisms to enable GGR scale up in the 2020s.
  • The CCC’s 2021 Progress Report to Parliament.

CCC Progress report summary

  • CCC Progress Report“Our assessment is that both engineered Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGR) and land-based removals, will be essential for reaching Net Zero.”
  • “A small number of BECCS and DACCS test facilities are presently in operation worldwide. Investment in research and development needs to be complemented with policy design to support engineered GGR scale-up during the mid-to-late 2020s.”
  • “A key milestone on the Sixth Carbon Budget pathway is progress towards the commissioning of the first commercial-scale BECCS plant in the late 2020s. This will need to be underpinned by the construction of CO2 pipeline and storage infrastructures as part of the wider establishment of CCS in the early 2020s”
  • “Progress towards this underpinning infrastructure delivery and the development of support policies for GGR deployment will be considered in next year’s Progress Report, in 2022.”
  • “The Net Zero Strategy should set out expected amounts and timings of land-based and engineered removals (i.e. bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS)) in contributing to meeting the Sixth Carbon Budget and the Net Zero target. These should avoid over-reliance on these solutions.”
  • “Building on the results of the BEIS GGR consultation, policy on governance and support mechanisms should be developed over the next year in order to enable GGR scale-up during the mid-late 2020s. This should include enabling domestic engineered removals to contribute to UK carbon budgets and Net Zero, establishing GGR monitoring, verification and reporting structures that ensure that GGR is sustainable and verifiable, and setting out support mechanisms that align with the expectations for the role and timing of GGR contribution to UK emissions reductions.”

 

Drax kickstarts planning process to expand its iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan Power Station

Press releases
  • The decision to seek planning permission to expand pumped storage hydro at Cruachan demonstrates Drax’s commitment to Scotland and is a landmark moment in unlocking the vast renewable resources needed in the UK ahead of COP 26 in Glasgow.
  • Pumped storage hydro is a critical technology which enables more renewable power and supports Scotland’s electricity system, helping the country towards its target of reaching net zero by 2045 five years before the UK as a whole.
  • Work to build Drax’s new pumped storage hydro power station could begin as soon as 2024, removing 1 million tonnes of rock from inside Ben Cruachan and creating hundreds of jobs across rural Scotland.

Renewable energy company Drax Group is kickstarting the planning process to build a new underground pumped storage hydro power station – more than doubling the electricity generating capacity at its iconic Cruachan facility in Scotland.

The project, announced as the UK prepares to host the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, will support almost 900 jobs in rural areas across Scotland during construction and will provide critical storage capacity needed to support a net zero power system.

The 600MW power station will be located inside Ben Cruachan – Argyll’s highest mountain – and increase the site’s total capacity to 1.04GW. The new power station would be built within a new, hollowed-out cavern which would be large enough to fit Big Ben on its side, to the east of Drax’s existing 440MW pumped storage hydro station. More than a million tonnes of rock would be excavated to create the cavern and other parts of the power station. The existing upper reservoir, which can hold 2.4 billion gallons of water, has the capacity to serve both power stations.

An artist's impression of Cruachan 2 (top) and the existing Cruachan Power Station (bottom)

An artist’s impression of Cruachan 2 (top) and the existing Cruachan Power Station (bottom) [click to view/download]

Like Drax’s existing site, the new station will be able to provide lifeline stability services to the power system alongside acting like a giant water battery. By using reversible turbines to pump water from Loch Awe to the upper reservoir on the mountainside, the station can store power from wind farms when supply outstrips demand.

The stored water would then be released back through the turbines to generate power quickly and reliably when demand increases. This will help to cut energy costs by reducing the need for wind farms to be paid to turn off when they are generating excess power. The new station would have the capacity to generate enough power for around a million homes.

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said:

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

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner [Click to view/download]

“This is an exciting and important project which underlines Drax’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis and supporting the energy system as it continues to decarbonise. Our plans to expand Cruachan will unlock more renewable electricity to power homes and businesses across the country, and support hundreds of new jobs in rural Scotland.

“Last year, the UK’s lack of energy storage capacity meant wind farms had to be paid to turn off and we lost out on enough renewable power to supply a million homes. We need to stop renewable power from going to waste by storing it, and Drax is ready to move mountains to do just that.”

Turbine hall, Cruachan Power Station

Turbine hall, Cruachan Power Station [click to view/download]

Drax’s decision to pursue planning approval has been welcomed by the Hollow Mountain’s local MP and MSP.

Brendan O’Hara, Argyll & Bute MP, said:

“I am delighted that Drax is progressing plans to expand the Ben Cruachan site. This will support 900 rural jobs and create a pumped storage facility that will be able to provide enough renewable energy to power a million homes while helping us reach our 2045 net zero target, it is great news for this area and for Scotland.”

Jenni Minto, Argyll & Bute MSP, said:

“Investment in new pumped storage hydro capacity could greatly enhance the flexibility and resilience of the electricity network and help us move towards meeting our ambitious global climate change targets. In the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow, it’s more vital than ever that we come up with innovative solutions to the climate emergency and ensure that future generations to reap the rewards of Scotland’s vast renewable potential.”

In order to deploy this critical technology, Drax must secure consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 from Scottish Ministers – a process which takes around one year to complete from the application’s submission.

Alongside a successful Section 36 application, the project will also require an updated policy and market support mechanism from the UK Government. The existing lack of a framework for large-scale, long-duration storage and flexibility technologies means that private investment cannot currently be secured in new pumped storage hydro projects, with no new plants built anywhere in the UK since 1984 despite their critical role in decarbonisation.

The first phase of the Section 36 application process includes public consultation this summer, when people can provide comments on Drax’s proposals for Cruachan via the project website from 1 July. Further consultation events are planned for later in the year, and an application is then expected to be submitted to Scottish Ministers in early 2022.

ENDS

Media contact:

Aidan Kerr
Media Manager (Generation)
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368

Editor’s Notes

  • The local community can view early stage proposals for the project, ask questions and leave feedback for Drax at a virtual public exhibition which begins on 1 July at the project’s website: cruachanexpansion.com
  • With Section 36 consent from the Scottish Government, and an updated revenue stabilisation mechanism from the UK Government, work to build the new pumped storage hydro power station could get underway in 2024, with it becoming operational, supplying flexible power to the grid, in 2030.
  • No investment decision has yet been taken and development remains subject to the right regulatory framework with the UK government.
  • A recent report by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) highlighted the policy barriers to deploying long-duration energy storage and suggested ways to address these barriers such as through the introduction of an income floor.
  • Analysis by pumped storage hydro experts Stantec for Drax shows 876 jobs will be supported directly and indirectly during construction.
  • Built on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll in the 1960s, Cruachan was the first reversible pumped storage hydro system of its scale to be built in the world.
  • The upper reservoir on the mountainside can store 11.1 million cubic metres (2.4bn gallons) – that’s enough to fill 4,440 Olympic swimming pools.
  • Independent analysis by Lane, Clark and Peacock (LCP) found the UK curtailed 3.6TWh of wind power last year, enough renewable electricity to supply around a million homes.
  • A separate independent report by academics from Imperial College London recently found that just 4.5 GW of new pumped storage hydro could save up to £690m per year in energy system costs by 2050.
  • Drax’s Scottish operations include hydro facilities in Galloway and Lanark and a biomass-from-waste plant at Daldowie, near Glasgow, along with Cruachan, all of which were acquired at the beginning of 2019.
  • Main photo of Cruachan Power Station dam and reservoir [view/download]
  • Cruachan 2 video animation [view and download
  • in 1:1 (square)] or [view and download in 16:9 (widescreen)]

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