Renewable energy company Drax has sponsored five scholarships for high school seniors from LaSalle and Jena High Schools through the LaSalle Economic Development District (LEDD).
The $1,500 in scholarships will provide graduating seniors, Joshua Mills, Carolyn Ann Chandler, Allison Ruth Anderson, Brannon Paul Ingle, and Chloe Campbell, with $300 each.
Joshua Mills, LaSalle High School graduate and Drax Scholarship recipient, said:
“I greatly appreciate the scholarship I was awarded from Drax. It will help me further my education as a radiological technician at the University of Louisiana in Monroe.”
Brannon Paul Ingle, a graduate from Jena High School, said:
“This scholarship funding from Drax will help me cover the cost of textbooks I will need for my Accounting and Finance classes at LSUA (Louisiana State University of Alexandria) this Fall.”
Jeff Crawford, Drax LaSalle Plant Manager, said:
“Being actively involved and giving back to our local communities is really important to us at Drax. Meeting these five bright students of our Parish was a humbling and heart-warming experience and it was so rewarding to be able to present our scholarships to them.”
Cynthia Cockerham, LEDD Executive Director, said:
“Drax is a great corporate partner for assisting the LaSalle Parish Scholars Fund with a $300 scholarship for five of our honor graduates with a 3.5 GPA and above. LaSalle Economic Development District appreciates all of our donors that have allowed us to continue this ten-year tradition.”
Drax is committed to supporting the communities local to its operations and is this year drawing up plans for a more targeted community spend.
In 2021, Drax supported education and skills in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama and provided donations to help communities hit by natural disasters and Covid and work to support sustainable forestry.
In Louisiana, support included Hurricane Ida relief efforts, sponsoring an environmental education workshop for teachers and launching a Classroom of the Month program
ENDS
Photo caption: L-R: Drax LaSalle plant manager Jeff Crawford, Brannon Ingle and Chloe Campbell from Jena High School, Joshua Mills, Carolyn Chandler, and Allison Anderson from LaSalle High School.
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
Annmarie Sartor
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: +1 318 801 0046
Editor’s Notes
- Through its operations in Louisiana and Mississippi, Drax supports more than 1,200 jobs and contributes $175m to the region’s economy.
- This includes more than 1,200 jobs in Louisiana and Mississippi with 300 direct jobs across these two states in Drax’s three pellet mills and at the port of Greater Baton Rouge.
- Drax’s pellet mills also support the wider supply chain of loggers, truckers, railway workers, port workers and other logistics professionals.
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 17 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
