Archives: Press Release

Waltham Leas Primary Academy visits Europe’s biggest carbon saving project

24 January 2020

Press releases
Students from Waltham Leas outside the cooling towers at Drax Power Station

The group of 32 students aged between eight and nine, visited Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, which has upgraded two thirds of its generating capacity to use compressed wood pellets in place of coal.

This has transformed the plant to become the UK’s largest renewable power generator – producing enough electricity for four million homes – and Europe’s biggest decarbonisation project.

It has also paved the way for Drax to pioneer ground-breaking bio energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology. If BECCS can be used across all four of its biomass generating units, Drax could become the world’s first negative emissions power station, helping it to make an even greater contribution towards tackling the climate emergency.

Pupils were taken on a full tour of the site including the innovative BECCS pilot plant which is capturing a tonne of CO2 each day, the 427-metre turbine hall that houses the six huge turbines which power the generators to produce electricity.

They also enjoyed a close-up view of the UK’s first wood pellet storage domes, each large enough to fit The Royal Albert Hall inside, and the 12 cooling towers, which at 115 metres high are taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Drax Group’s Head of Business Sustainability, Vicky Bullivant, said:

“By providing tours at Drax Power Station we want to further students’ understanding of how electricity is produced and hopefully fire their imaginations and inspire them to study STEM subjects by showing them some of the pioneering technologies we’re trying, like BECCS, which could play a vital role in addressing the climate crisis.”

During the tour, pupils learnt how renewable electricity is generated and discovered how sustainable, compressed wood pellets have enabled Drax to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 80% compared to when those generating units used coal.

Chetna Taylor, from Waltham Leas Primary Academy, who organised the visit, said:

“The students had a great day at Drax, learning about how the electricity system works and where our electricity is generated. Visits like this are so valuable because seeing the power station and the scale of the operations is impossible to replicate in a classroom – it really brings the subject to life.”

Drax has a long tradition of supporting education and helping to inspire the engineers of the future by encouraging greater interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. Earlier this year it invested £35,000 in the GreenPower initiative involving seven local schools and colleges in building and racing electric vehicles.

The Waltham Leas Academy students are among over 12,000 visitors to Drax every year. Tours are free to all primary and secondary schools and can be tailored to suit the area of the curriculum teachers are interested in.

For further information on school tours at Drax visit the website at www.drax.com/uk.

ENDS

Image caption: Students from Waltham Leas outside the cooling towers at Drax Power Station

Media contacts:

Lily Pettifar
Drax Group Media Intern
[email protected]   
07719 559 556

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

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 pledge to lead the energy industry on social mobility

22 January 2020

Press releases
Justine Greening at Selby College in electric car

The former Secretary of State for Education visited Drax Power Station – the UK’s largest renewable electricity generator, in North Yorkshire, to hear more about the energy company’s work to improve education and skills within the communities local to its UK operations.

The Social Mobility Pledge is a cross party campaign aimed at encouraging businesses to develop relationships with colleges and schools, to increase access through apprenticeships, work experience and other career enhancing schemes which help to level the playing field and ensure opportunities are created for all.

Close up of Justine Greening in the electric vehicle.

Close up of Justine Greening in the electric vehicle.

Justine Greening, Social Mobility Pledge founder, said:

“By removing barriers to STEM learning and opening up employment opportunities within the energy industry, Drax is giving young people the skills needed to forge successful careers in a sector which has an important role to play in the transition to a net zero economy.”

During her time in North Yorkshire, Justine Greening visited Selby College – one of Drax’s educational partners – and Drax Power Station, where she met post-graduate students from Staffordshire University who were visiting to see how it has become Europe’s largest decarbonisation project by converting two thirds of its generating units to use biomass instead of coal.

Drax recently announced plans to become a carbon negative company by using innovative bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology. Negative emissions technologies like BECCS are critical to the UK to achieve its net zero carbon targets whilst also creating new jobs and opportunities for clean growth.

Andy Koss, Drax CEO Generation, said:

“Companies like Drax are developing and innovating using new technologies which will help to combat the climate crisis. It’s important that communities are not left behind during the transition to a more sustainable future – making sure people have the right skills is a key part of that.

“At Drax we work with schools and colleges to provide exciting activities and experiences which help to boost education, inspiring students by giving them access to new technologies from within the energy sector, like electric vehicles, which provides invaluable experience.”

In 2019, Drax worked with schools and colleges in the Selby area, to encourage more people to study Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects by providing them each with an EV kit car for students to build and race.

Liz Ridley, Deputy Principal, Selby College said:

“Our students have got involved in some incredible projects with Drax, such as building and then racing their own electric vehicle.

“Having the chance to work with such experienced and skilled engineers from Drax on an exciting project like that, was inspiring – it opened the students’ eyes to new possibilities and gave them some of the skills they’ll need in the future to grasp the opportunities which come their way. We’re looking forward to repeating the project again with more of our students this year.”

Justine Greening discussing STEM learning with Drax Generation CEO, Andy Koss; Head of Sustainable Business, Vicky Bullivant; and staff and students of Selby College.

Drax has a significant network of partnerships with schools and colleges across its operations which encourages access to STEM learning. It also provides work experience opportunities, apprenticeships and graduate recruitment schemes.

Through its commitment to the Social Mobility Pledge, Drax will publish a report later this year about its performance in delivering a positive social impact, which will be used as an example of best practice in the energy industry.

ENDS

Top image: Justine Greening sitting in an electric vehicle next to Liz Ridley, built by Selby College students through a partnership with Drax.

Media contacts

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
[email protected]
07712 670 888

Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07849090368 

Editor’s Notes

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

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

How Highland snow helps power Scotland

14 January 2020

Press releases
The Highlands around Ben Cruachan are rich with wildlife. Educational information on area’s flora and fauna can be explored at the Cruachan Power Station visitor centre.

Towering over Loch Awe, Ben Cruachan is one of many Munros that spend much of the winter blanketed in snow. Cruachan is unlike any other Scottish mountain, however. On its slopes lies a dam which stores water in a reservoir that is then transported into a power station built inside the hollowed-out centre of the mountain to generate power by spinning turbines.

“On a few occasions the snowfall has been so extreme that we’ve been unable to access the dam for a few weeks at a time,” says Gordon Pirie, a Civil Engineer at Cruachan. “Thankfully, we have enough controls in place where we are still able to monitor and operate things remotely.”

When there is excess power on grid, the turbines reverse and use it to pump water from Loch Awe up to the reservoir. In this way it is storing the excess electricity, in the form of water – like a battery – and holding it in the top reservoir, ready to be used by the power station when demand for power increases.

Built on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute in the mid-1960s, Cruachan was the first reversible pumped storage hydro system on its scale to be built in the world and is still one of only four power stations in the whole of the UK that can operate in this way, making it a vital component of Britain’s generation network.

The power station is very responsive, and able to react quickly to changes on the system – it can achieve full load (440MW) in just 30 seconds and can operate continuously at full output for around 15 hours if necessary.

Thanks to Scotland’s wet weather, 70 million cubic metres of water flowed into Cruachan’s reservoir from surface water from the mountainside, melting snow and rainfall in 2018. That’s enough to fill 28,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

This water is collected and delivered through a complex series of aqueducts which stretch for some 14km and brings water from 75 intakes across the mountain. The intakes range from pipes no larger than small street drains to some large enough for a jeep to drive through.

Keeping these aqueducts in working order so melt water from snow can continue to flow into the reservoir is one of Pirie’s main tasks.

“Even in freezing conditions the water will still flow through the aqueduct system, the intakes have a built-in feature which allows the water to flow into them even if the surface is frozen solid,” he explains. “Any snow or frost on the ground eventually thaws and makes its way to the reservoir.”

Cruachan shows that with a bit of ingenuity and determination, Scotland’s dreich weather needn’t be a negative. The rain and snow which fall across the Highlands helps produce renewable electricity that powers our homes and moves us closer to a net-zero future.

The Hollow Mountain shows that every cloud really does have a silver lining.

Image captions (click to view/download)

Top image: A Highland cow with Ben Cruachan in the background.

  1. Cruachan dam and reservoir blanketed with snow. (Copyright Alamy all usage must be sought by them).
  2. Cruachan’s network of aqueducts stretch for around 14km.
  3. Civil engineer Gordon Pirie on Cruachan dam.
  4. Snow can block the access road to the dam, leading engineers to have to walk up the mountain.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07849090368 

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
[email protected]
07712 670 888

Editor’s Notes

  • You can read about the men who built Cruachan and the complex construction of the power station on the Drax website.
  • Drax acquired Cruachan power station at the end of 2018, when it bought a portfolio of flexible, renewable and low-carbon power stations located across Scotland and England.
  • Since then, the visitor centre has been renovated and Drax has also introduced free school tours during term time as part of the company’s efforts to boost STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills.
  • 50,000 people visit Cruachan Power Station each year and take guided tours inside the subterranean world of the power station, where they can see the machine hall and learn about its history and the feat of engineering required to build it.
  • Cruachan is one of four pumped hydro storage stations in the UK and has a capacity of 440 MW – enough to power more than 880,000 homes during peak demand.
  • The turbine hall is located 1 km within the hollowed-out mountain of Ben Cruachan and houses four generators, supplying a range of vital balancing and ancillary services to the grid, such as frequency control, spinning and operating reserves, helping to maintain secure power supplies.
  • 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 end of last year.

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.


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

Trafford College visits Europe’s biggest carbon saving project

10 January 2020

Press releases
Trafford College visit to Drax

The group of 23 students aged between 18 and 25, visited Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, which has upgraded two thirds of its generating capacity to use compressed wood pellets in place of coal.

This has transformed the plant to become the UK’s largest renewable power generator – producing enough electricity for four million homes – and Europe’s biggest decarbonisation project.

It has also paved the way for Drax to pioneer ground-breaking bio energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology. If BECCS can be used across all four of its biomass generating units, Drax could become the world’s first negative emissions power station, helping it to make an even greater contribution towards tackling the climate emergency.

Students were taken on a full tour of the site including the innovative BECCS pilot plant which is capturing a tonne of CO2 each day, the 427-metre turbine hall that houses the six huge turbines which power the generators to produce electricity.

They also enjoyed a close-up view of the UK’s first wood pellet storage domes, each large enough to fit The Royal Albert Hall inside, and the 12 cooling towers, which at 115 metres high are taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Drax Group’s Head of Business Sustainability, Vicky Bullivant, said:

“By providing tours at Drax Power Station we want to further students’ understanding of how electricity is produced and hopefully fire their imaginations and inspire them to study STEM subjects by showing them some of the pioneering technologies we’re trying, like BECCS, which could play a vital role in addressing the climate crisis.”

During the tour, pupils learnt how renewable electricity is generated and discovered how sustainable, compressed wood pellets have enabled Drax to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 80% compared to when those generating units used coal.

Bertin Speaks, from Trafford College, who organised the visit, said:

“The students had a great day at Drax, learning about how the electricity system works and where our electricity is generated. Visits like this are so valuable because seeing the power station and the scale of the operations is impossible to replicate in a classroom – it really brings the subject to life.”

Drax has a long tradition of supporting education and helping to inspire the engineers of the future by encouraging greater interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. Last year it invested £35,000 in the GreenPower initiative involving seven local schools and colleges in building and racing electric vehicles.

The Trafford College students are among over 12,000 visitors to Drax every year. Tours are free to all primary and secondary schools and can be tailored to suit the area of the curriculum teachers are interested in.

For further information on school tours at Drax visit the website at www.drax.com/uk.

Image Caption: Trafford College outside the Biomass domes at Drax Power Station.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
[email protected]
07712 670 888

Selina Williams
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07912230393

About Drax

Drax Group’s ambition is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,600-strong staff 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

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

Companies meet to discuss negative emissions ambitions

Press releases
Drax CCUS incubation area

In August 2019 Velocys’ subsidiary Altalto Immingham Limited, a collaboration with British Airways and Shell, submitted plans for Europe’s first commercial waste-to-jet-fuel plant near Immingham on the South Bank of the Humber. The company has since voiced its support for the Zero Carbon Humber campaign, which is seeking to develop a large-scale carbon dioxide transport and storage network in the Humber that would significantly reduce emissions and create new job opportunities for the region.

Dr Neville Hargreaves, VP Waste to Fuels, Velocys, said:

“Subject to planning consent and financing, our Altalto Immingham project could be producing sustainable aviation fuel as soon as 2024. Velocys has a robust technological solution for this challenging sector which addresses one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise and can help the UK meet its net zero target.”

“Furthermore, we’ll also produce a capture-ready stream of carbon dioxide, and thus a transport and storage network in the Humber would allow us to make negative emission fuels, delivering a further environmental benefit.”

Steve Drayton (Director of Innovation, Drax),  Dr Neville Hargreaves (VP Waste to Fuels, Velocys), Brian Greensmith (Drax), Richard Gwilliam (Drax), Martin Hopkins (Velocys)

Steve Drayton (Director of Innovation, Drax),  Dr Neville Hargreaves (VP Waste to Fuels, Velocys), Brian Greensmith (Drax), Richard Gwilliam (Drax), Martin Hopkins (Velocys)

Steve Drayton, Director of Innovation at Drax said:

“There are some interesting synergies between our ambitions at Drax to become the world’s first carbon negative company and Velocys’ plans to produce carbon negative fuels in the Humber.

“Having innovative businesses like Velocys in the Humber region makes a zero carbon industrial cluster here an exciting possibility, which will result in new jobs and clean growth delivering for the environment as well as the economy.”

The Zero Carbon Humber campaign aims to create the UK’s first net zero industrial cluster in the region which could make a bigger contribution to UK’s climate goals than any other industrial cluster – capturing 15% of the UK’s current annual CO2 emissions.

By using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) Drax will be able to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it produces, creating a negative carbon footprint for the company.

CCUS incubation area, Drax Power Station, July 2019

CCUS incubation area, Drax Power Station; click image to view/download.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
[email protected]
07712 670 888

Selina Williams
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07912230393

Notes to editors:

Drax was the first company in the world to announce an ambition to become carbon negative by 2030 when CEO Will Gardiner spoke at COP 25 in Madrid in December.

Sustainable biomass is an important part of the UK’s long-term energy mix. Combining this renewable fuel with carbon capture and storage technology on Drax’s biomass generating units at its power station in North Yorkshire, England, means the Group’s operations could capture 16 million tonnes of CO2 a year or more – a significant proportion of the UK’s target.

Drax announced it had captured the first carbon dioxide from its pioneering BECCS pilot project earlier this year.

The UK Committee on Climate Change’s ‘Net Zero’ report states that BECCS could generate up to 173 TWh of electricity by 2050, capturing up to 51 million tonnes of CO2 – around half of the remaining carbon in the economy that the UK will need to capture to become ‘net zero’.

Drax launched the Zero Carbon Humber campaign in September with partners Equinor and National Grid Ventures, aimed at creating the world’s first zero carbon industrial cluster in the region.

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.


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

Velocys

Velocys is sustainable fuels technology company. Velocys designed, developed and now licences proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology for the generation of clean, low carbon, synthetic drop-in aviation and transport fuel from municipal solid waste and waste woody biomass. Velocys is currently developing projects in Natchez, Mississippi, USA (incorporating Carbon Capture Use and Storage) and Immingham, UK to produce fuels that significantly reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and key exhaust pollutants for aviation and road transport. Originally a spin-out from Oxford University, in 2008 the company acquired a US company based on complementary technology developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Velocys is headquartered in Oxford in the United Kingdom.

www.velocys.com

Drax Power Station’s 2020 apprentice scheme opens to applicants

9 January 2020

Press releases
Female engineer at Drax Power Station
  • An award-winning Drax apprentice has encouraged budding engineers to follow in his footsteps and start their careers at the UK’s biggest renewable power station in 2020.

Kai Lewis, who was named Drax Power Station’s Uniper Engineering Academy Apprentice of the Year in October, has urged would-be applicants not to miss out on the chance to start a career with Drax – the world’s first company to announce an ambition to become carbon negative – and submit their applications before the end of January.

Kai, who is in the second year of his apprenticeship, said:

“There’s so much technical ability at Drax to learn from, it’s a fantastic start for all of us so early in our careers and this year’s intake of apprentices will be no different. There’s so much going on, it’s a real chance to play a part in an energy sector, which is changing really quickly.

“It’s been an amazing start to my career. I’ve still got lots to learn but it’s great experience.”

Photo of Kai Lewis (centre) receiving the Uniper Engineering Academy Apprentice of the Year Award alongside Mike Maudsley (left), Drax’s UK Portfolio Generation Director and BBC Look North’s Harry Gration (right).

Photo of Kai Lewis (centre) receiving the Uniper Engineering Academy Apprentice of the Year Award alongside Mike Maudsley (left), Drax’s UK Portfolio Generation Director and BBC Look North’s Harry Gration (right).

Andy Koss, CEO Generation, said:

“There’s no better way to start a career in engineering than here at Drax. Groundbreaking technologies are being piloted by our world class engineers, which could enable Drax to be the first company globally to be carbon negative, making a major contribution towards addressing the climate crisis.

“Every business in the Northern Powerhouse region has a role to play in creating opportunities for young people and raising aspirations – encouraging them to develop the skills they’ll need in the future. Apprentices are not only vital to the long-term future of our business – they also possess the future talent needed to ensure the UK meets its net zero carbon by 2050 targets.”

Applications for Control and Instrumentation Engineering, and Electrical Engineering apprentices close on Friday January 31 with successful applicants taking up their posts in August 2020.

Drax is keen to attract applications from people of all backgrounds and to encourage diversity.

To apply or find out more about the apprenticeships available, visit the Drax website.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07849090368 

Lily Pettifar
Drax Group Media Intern
[email protected]  
07719 559556

Notes to editors:

  • Drax became the first business in the world to announce an ambition to become carbon negative when Group CEO Will Gardiner spoke at COP25 in December. It plans to achieve this by using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology, on its biomass generating units at Drax Power Station.
  • Becoming carbon negative would mean it would be removing more carbon dioxide than it emits across the whole of the Group’s operations, whilst producing the flexible, renewable electricity millions of homes and businesses rely on.

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

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

New tartan to commemorate workers who died building unique Scottish power station

23 December 2019

Press releases
Ian MacLean (CR), Ian Kinnaird (C), and Sarah Cameron (R) and visitor staff at Cruachan visitor centre.

The design, based on the Clan MacColl tartan sett, uses 15 strands of a special dark blue thread to represent those who tragically lost their lives building what was the world’s first reversible pumped storage hydro system, located in the Western Highlands of Scotland.

Ian Kinnaird, Head of Hydro at Drax, said:

“Building this unique power station was an astonishing feat of engineering, completed in challenging conditions. The work was physically demanding and at times, incredibly dangerous. Sadly, during the course of the construction, 15 men lost their lives.

“When we were commissioning this new tartan, we decided it was a fitting tribute to incorporate 15 dark blue threads in memory of those who tragically died – many of whom were very young.”

Between 1959 and 1965, a 4,000-strong workforce built the power station on the shore of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute – 1,300 of them were known as ‘Tunnel Tigers’ – the men at the forefront of the work. They drilled, blasted and cleared the rocks from the inside of the mountain.

Barbara McCabe, aged 81.

Barbara McCabe, aged 81. Click to view/download.

One of those who died was 23-year-old Edward Gallagher, from Donegal – the fiancé of Barbara McCabe, now 81, who lives in Inverness-shire.

Mrs McCabe explained how she got engaged to Edward on December 21, 1961 and they were planning to get married the following September.

However, tragedy struck just before Easter 1962, when loose rock in the ceiling of a tunnel  fell down – the force of which was so strong, it pulled Edward out of his protective footwear.

“He was such a lovely, lovely man,” Mrs McCabe, recalled. “Eddie’s father sent me a telegram and what it said was: ‘Is Eddie alright?’ I didn’t know what it meant, I was busy getting ready for Eddie coming down so we could spend Easter together.

“He shouldn’t have been at work, but he’d swapped shifts with someone else who wanted to go home early for Easter – that was what Eddie was like. He was a great young man, always doing things like that to help people.”

Edward Gallagher with Barbara at Queen’s Park in Glasgow, 1961

Edward Gallagher with Barbara at Queen’s Park in Glasgow, 1961. Click to view/download.

Mrs McCabe explained that Mr Gallagher’s father travelled across from Ireland and they went together to the cottage hospital at Oban where Edward was being treated.

“When I saw Eddie, there wasn’t a mark on his face – but we were told his injuries were so severe there was no hope of survival. He passed away in the early hours of Easter Monday – the 23rd of April 1962.”

Mrs McCabe has always stayed in touch with Mr Gallagher’s family in Donegal and has visited his grave at a chapel in the village of Termon, near Letterkenny.

Of the tartan Drax has commissioned, she said:

“I think it’s a lovely way to make sure Eddie and the others who died are always remembered. I’ve told his family about it and I’m going to be sending them one of the new tartan scarves this Christmas.”  

Edward Gallagher (L), February 1962.

Edward Gallagher (L), February 1962. Click to view/download.

Hollowing out the Ben Cruachan mountain was done by hand-drilling two to three-metre-deep holes into the granite rockface. Gelignite was packed into the drilled holes and detonated – blasted rocks were then removed by bulldozers, trucks and shovels, before drilling began on a fresh section of exposed granite. Eventually some 220,000 cubic metres of rubble was removed.

Ian MacLean, from Oban, was a 20-year-old joiner when he started working at Cruachan in 1962. He said:

“I worked as a joiner on the roof of what is the machine hall now. The noise from the blasting was incredible – you didn’t just hear it, you felt it too.

“There was a lot of dust, but what bothered us the most was the smell – it was horrible. There were fumes from the explosives as well as the dump truck’s diesel engines that were running all the time – and we didn’t have masks to wear. Some days the air was so thick you could only see a few yards in front of where you were standing.”

Ian MacLean looking at the machine hall inside Cruachan.

Ian MacLean looking at the machine hall inside Cruachan. Click to view/download.

In total, 20km of tunnels and chambers were excavated, including the kilometre-long entrance tunnel and the 91-metre-long, 36-metre-high machine hall.

The 77-year-old says that despite the conditions he worked in, it was an interesting job and he earned good money:

“When I finished as an apprentice joiner I was earning £9 a week – when I started working at Cruachan I was on treble that. The conditions we were working in were tough – but I met some great people and we were young. It’s just what we did.”

Ian Kinnard (L) and Ian MacLean (R) inside Cruachan.

Ian Kinnard (L) and Ian MacLean (R) inside Cruachan. Click to view/download.

Polish and Irish labourers worked alongside Scots, as well as displaced Europeans, prisoners of the second world war and even workers from as far away as Asia.

The 15 men who died are remembered at Cruachan in a mural on the wall of the turbine hall at the heart of the power station and now visitors to the award-winning ‘Hollow Mountain’ visitor centre will see the new tartan waistcoats worn by guides.

Sarah Cameron, Drax’s Manager of the Hollow Mountain visitor centre at Cruachan, added:

“Our visitor centre guides will proudly wear the tartan on their waistcoats and continue to tell the stories about how this unique power station was built. It’s important that we remember the 15 men who died and the many others who were injured building this unique power station.”

The new tartan, made by Kinloch Anderson in Edinburgh, based on the Clan MacColl Sett, which was created in respect of Sir Edward MacColl, the brainchild and pioneer of Cruachan Power Station, has also been used to make some special scarves, available to buy from the visitor centre shop.

The Hollow Mountain visitor centre’s interactive exhibitions and displays help bring the history of the power station to life and explain how electricity is generated. There is also a café, gift shop and picnic area.

The visitor centre is closed now for Christmas and the New Year – reopening in February. To find out more or to book a tour go to the website.

Main photo caption:

ENDS

Media contacts:

Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
[email protected]
07849090368 

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media and PR
[email protected]
07712670888

Editor’s Notes

  • Read more about the men who built Cruachan on the Drax website.
  • Drax acquired Cruachan power station at the end of 2018, when it bought a portfolio of flexible, renewable and low-carbon power stations located across Scotland and England.
  • Since then, the visitor centre has been renovated and Drax has also introduced free school tours during term time as part of the company’s efforts to boost STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills.
  • 50,000 people visit Cruachan Power Station each year and take guided tours inside the subterranean world of the power station, where they can see the machine hall and learn about its history and the feat of engineering required to build it. 
  • Cruachan is one of four pumped hydro storage stations in the UK and has a capacity of 440 MW – enough to power more than 90,000 homes during peak demand.
  • Built on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute, it was the first reversible pumped storage hydro system on this scale to be built in the world.
  • The turbine hall is located 1 km within the hollowed-out mountain of Ben Cruachan and houses four generators, supplying a range of vital balancing and ancillary services to the grid, such as frequency control, spinning and operating reserves, helping to maintain secure power supplies.
  • 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 end of last year.

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

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

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I offers green energy to pubs

20 December 2019

Press releases
Person holding Budweiser bottle; Photo by Victor Freitas

  • The programme supports the brewer’s ambitious Sustainability Goals while helping customers save on their monthly energy bills

  • The programme, in partnership with Opus Energy, is currently in a pilot phase and will roll out nationwide in Spring 2020

The launch follows customer research which revealed that energy bills score high on the list of priorities for pubs and bars looking to reduce costs.[1] As such, Budweiser Brewing Group is evolving its offering — directly addressing the needs and demands of pub and bar operators up and down the country, while helping to reduce their environmental impact.

The exclusive renewable electricity tariff is offered by Opus Energy, part of Drax Group, and is guaranteed to be cheaper than any other deal found through price comparison or third-party alternatives, with a saving of up to 30% from existing standard renewal prices from other suppliers.

Pubs and bars which take advantage of the exclusive deal will join over 355,000 business premises in the UK currently powered by renewable electricity from Opus Energy. The programme is currently in pilot phase with 100 pubs and will roll out in Spring 2020, helping more businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and contribute to tackling the climate crisis.

Paula Lindenberg, President at Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I says,

“For us, sustainability isn’t just about looking at our own operations — it’s also about looking outward and supporting our customers. We know that our customers are eager to save on energy costs, and that consumers are more environmentally conscious than ever, so this really is a sweet spot where we can make a difference.”

Marc Montgomery, Director of SME Direct, Opus Energy says,

“We’re thrilled to team up with Budweiser Brewing Group to supply renewable electricity to more pubs and bars across the UK. Enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future for businesses is our purpose, and this partnership will help more pubs to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute towards the UK’s net zero carbon targets.”

This deal is the latest in a series of sustainability initiatives by Budweiser Brewing Group. Last year, it signed the UK’s biggest unsubsidised solar power deal with Lightsource BP to brew Budweiser with 100% renewable electricity for its UK operations by the end of 2020.

With completion of the new UK solar farm expected by mid-2020, all UK-brewed Budweiser will begin to feature a new symbol to encourage consumers to choose a beer brewed with 100% renewable electricity. Similarly, Budweiser Brewing Group will offer window decals for pubs that sign up to the Opus Energy deal.

The investment in UK solar reinforces the brewer’s commitment to its 2025 Sustainability Goals, which includes the target of a 25% reduction to carbon emissions across its value chain against a 2017 baseline – the equivalent of taking more than 1.5 million cars off the road each year.

Drax Group is the first business in the world to announce an ambition to become carbon negative by 2030 – making a major contribution towards global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), Drax will remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it produces, creating a negative carbon footprint for the company.

To find out more about switching to a Budweiser Renewable Energy Tariff, contact [email protected].

ENDS

Photo caption: Photo by Victor Freitas

For more information, please contact:

3 Monkeys Zeno on behalf of Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I:

[email protected]

Notes to Editors:

About Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I is the trading name of AB InBev UK Limited, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with secondary listings on the Mexico (MEXBOL: ABI) and South Africa (JSE: ANB) stock exchanges and with American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD). Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I remains a proud part of AB InBev globally. In the UK, Budweiser Brewing Group employs 1,000 people in our three breweries in Magor, South Wales, Samlesbury, Lancashire and Enfield, North London and in our local headquarters in Central London.

We are committed to building great brands that stand the test of time and to brewing the best beers using the finest natural ingredients. We are proud to offer the UK’s leading premium beer and cider brands, including global brands Budweiser®, Corona® and Stella Artois®; international brands Bud Light®, Michelob Ultra®, Beck’s®, Leffe®, and Hoegaarden®; and local champions Bass® and Boddingtons®.

We are here to champion Britain’s iconic beer culture, from barley farmers to pubs and retail; we are a founding member of the Portman Group, member of the British Beer and Pub Association and supporter of the Drinkaware Trust. We are also members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Renewable and Sustainability Energy and the All-Party Parliamentary Corporate Responsibility Group. Our Dream is to bring people together for a better world. Learn more at www.budweiserbrewinggroup.co.uk or on Twitter through @BudBrewingUKI

For more information about Anheuser-Busch InBev, please visit www.AB InBev.com.

About Opus Energy

Opus Energy is the UK’s fifth-biggest business energy supplier, supplying electricity and gas to more than 355,000 business premises across the UK. It employs over 900 people between Northampton, Oxford and Cardiff.

Generating 100% of its electricity from renewable sources last year and purchasing power from over 2,100 renewable generators in the UK, Opus Energy is part of Drax Group and is committed to delivering a low-cost, zero-carbon energy future.

For more detailed information please visit https://www.opusenergy.com/

[1] BBPA, ALMR 2019

Drax employees raise £5K and give 262 kilos of goods to local food banks at Christmas

Press releases
Selby Food Bank

Following a successful year, during which two major turbine outages were completed at the power station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, the turbine outage team at Drax continued its annual tradition of raising money for charity. This year the total reached £5,000, the largest amount ever raised.

The money raised was split between the two food banks and ‘Baby Dinosaurs’, a local charity selling pre-loved toys at an affordable price. Drax members of the union Unite, also donated a cheque of £200 to each food bank in addition to the £5,000 raised by Drax.

Employees across the power station also contributed to the Christmas cheer through a food bank appeal. Throughout December, employees donated food, toiletries and other treats to help make sure local people who may be struggling with food poverty can enjoy Christmas.

In total 262 kilos were donated, consisting of tins, packets and jars of goods.

Vicky Bullivant, Drax’s head of sustainable business, said:

“Christmas is a time for giving and sharing. At Drax we recognise the vital work of the local food banks and employees across the business have contributed to the total raised – with special thanks to the turbine outage team for their outstanding fundraising efforts this year.

“The smallest donation can make a big difference to someone who is struggling financially – especially at this time of year. We hope that everyone in our communities has a happy Christmas.”

The donations were delivered to two local food banks: Selby and District Foodbank and Mission Trinity at Goole Methodist Church.

Mark Barnett from Selby and District Foodbank said:

“Receiving donations like this from Drax make a huge difference to the number of people we can help at Christmas – a time which can be very difficult for people facing financial difficulties. Food poverty is a growing issue in the UK with one in five of the population living below the poverty line.”

Caroline Sample from Mission Trinity at Goole Methodist Church said:

“We want to say a big thank you to everyone at Drax who has helped raise this money or donated food and other items this Christmas – it will mean a lot to the people who need our help at this time of year.” 

The Selby and District Foodbank is one of 1,200 foodbanks supported by the Trussell Trust’s Foodbank Network. Between April 2018 and March 2019, Trussell Trust food banks provided a record 1.6 million food supplies to people in crisis.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Lily Pettifar
Drax Group Media Intern
[email protected]
07719 559 556

About Drax

Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,900-strong 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 flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. 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.

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.  It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.

Customers:  

Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:

  • Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
  • Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.


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