Archives: Press Release

Chemin-a-Haut 4 Mile Race and 1 Mile Walk scheduled for October 19

10 October 2019

Press releases

he popularity of the event is growing, and a large group of participants is expected. To add to the excitement, the event encourages team registration which is a minimum of 5 participants. The Chemin-a-Haut 4 Mile Trail Run and 1 Mile Walk is designed with three main purposes in mind:

  • First, to provide a great race for everyone that enjoys trail running or walking along natural trails under towering cypress, hickory, and oak forests, and along a scenic lakeshore and bayou.
  • Second, to enjoy the unspoiled beauty that one of the oldest and most natural state parks in Louisiana has to offer as you enjoy the comradery of friends. The running course will pass by thousands of years old cypress trees, and run along the “high road,” the same route used by Native Americans centuries ago in their seasonal migration.
  • Both awards and participant medallions are handmade from cypress trees. Plan to stay after the event to kayak on Bayou Bartholomew, Slough Lake, or Chemin-a-Haut Creek. Go to Chemin-a-Haut Trail Run and Walk on Facebook to see photos of these unique awards.
  • Register at Eventbrite.com. For both the run and the walk, the registration fee is $25 which includes a t-shirt. Late registration, which is $30, begins October 11.

Event Schedule October 19

  • 7:30 – 8:15 a.m. – Check-In/Packet Pick-Up
  • 7:30 – 8:15 a.m. – Late Registration
  • 8:30 a.m. – 4 Mile Trail Run & 1 Mile Walk

Title Sponsors

Drax and Delta Healthcare Management, LLC are Title Sponsors.

Organizer

The Morehouse Innovation and Technology Alliance (MITA), which is composed of all volunteers, is organizing the fun event. Proceeds from the trail run and walk are re-invested in projects to benefit and raise awareness for the Chemin-a-Haut, for Bussey Brake, for the Morehouse Memorial Airport, and for projects that create pride in Morehouse Parish. MITA would like to thank their sponsors and the many community involved people for helping to make the event possible.

For more information call (318) 282-2985.

New carbon capture technology could help industry and agricultural sector decarbonise

17 June 2019

Press releases
Salmon fish farm pools in the see lochs near Portree, Sound of Raasay, Isle of Skyue, Highlands of Scotland
  • Innovative biotech start-up, Deep Branch Biotechnology, is partnering with Drax Group on a new bioenergy carbon capture usage and storage (BECCUS) pilot which could help reduce emissions from the agricultural sector
  • Carbon dioxide will be used to create protein which could replace soy and fishmeal, the main components in fish and livestock feeds
  • The project aims to help meet the anticipated increase in global demand for meat products
  • Global markets for single cell proteins could be worth £9bn by 2023

Drax is working with biotech start-up Deep Branch Biotechnology to explore the feasibility of using the power station’s carbon dioxide emissions to make proteins for sustainable animal feed products.

Deep Branch Biotechnology, a leading tech start-up based at Nottingham University, will place a pilot plant within Drax’s Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) Incubation Area at its power station in North Yorkshire.

It will extract flue gases from the power station’s renewable electricity generation to feed to microbes, which can make single cell proteins for use in fish food and other sustainable animal feeds.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner said:

“By giving partners like Deep Branch Biotechnology access to our CCUS Incubation Area we can test emerging technologies and explore their potential in delivering for both the climate and the economy.

“We want to create a cleaner environment for future generations whilst generating new jobs and export opportunities for British businesses. Technologies like this could enable some of our more difficult to decarbonise sectors, like agriculture, to make positive changes to address the climate crisis.”

Drax Power Station is the biggest renewable electricity generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe having converted two thirds of the plant to use sustainable biomass instead of coal.

It is exploring the feasibility of using BECCUS technologies to help further reduce its emissions and contribute towards the UK meeting its climate targets. This is Drax’s first incubation project exploring a market for carbon dioxide. The power station has also held discussions with the British Beer and Pub association about the possibility of captured CO2 being used to carbonate drinks.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner (second right) accompanied Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry in a visit to the Drax Power Station BECCS pilot project in November 2018. Download graphic in high-res

A dedicated Incubation Area has been created at the power station to give other technology companies the opportunity to test their processes on its carbon dioxide.

Chris Skidmore, Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, said:

“Carbon capture, usage and storage technologies are not only putting fizz in our drinks but feeding fish too.

“As we move towards net zero emissions and end our contribution to global warming, innovative projects like this will help reduce agricultural emissions and meet increasing demand for animal feed, demonstrating the enormous global potential CCUS has to tackle climate change.”

Peter Rowe, Deep Branch Biotechnology CEO, explained that the method they have developed for producing proteins from CO2, relies on an edible microbe that consumes carbon dioxide.

When fed carbon dioxide, the microbes grow and reproduce, enabling them to be continually harvested for protein whilst maintaining a growing culture. Under optimal conditions, up to 70 per cent of the material produced is protein.

The benefits of this process over other carbon capture technologies is that the CO2 does not need to be separated from the power station’s flue gases before being fed to the microbes.

Peter said:

“Meat production is set to double by 2050 as global populations increase, but using existing methods of producing animal feeds to meet this growing demand is completely unsustainable.

“The technology we’ve developed is an exciting solution. We can convert up to 60-70% of CO2 into protein, helping to both minimise the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere during power generation and other industrial processes, whilst producing protein for animal feeds which will help reduce the impact of agricultural sectors on the environment as well.”

The USA is the world’s biggest soy producer, producing one third of global supply, and uses 97% to produce animal feed. Over 60% of cereals grown globally are being used in animal feeds along with 20 million tonnes of ocean-caught fish.

Concerns about overfishing have seen the aquaculture (farmed fish) industry boom, yet this industry uses more than 15% of ocean-caught fish for feed, in the form of fishmeal.

The new proteins created using the Deep Branch biotechnology could help reduce the quantities of fish removed from the oceans. This not only minimises the impact on ecosystems, but decreases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mitigating the harmful effects of climate change.

The Deep Branch pilot will get underway in the autumn, when a demonstration plant will be installed within the Drax CCUS Incubation Area.

It aims to capture enough CO2 to produce 100kg of protein to be used to create feedstocks for fish and livestock. The protein generated from the project will be used in a trial project with a major feed producer.

If successful, Deep Branch Biotechnology plans to build a larger production facility by 2020 so it can produce several tonnes of protein per year.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712670888

Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07712677177

Deep Branch Biotechnology
[email protected]

Editors’ note:

  • Drax announced in February that is had started to capture carbon dioxide from its first Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) pilot project using technology developed by Leeds University spin-out company C-Capture.
  • This is the first-time carbon dioxide has been captured from the combustion of a 100% biomass feedstock anywhere in the world. If the pilot can be scaled up to deliver negative emissions, Drax Power Station would be helping to remove the gases that cause global warming from the atmosphere at the same time as electricity is produced.
  • Since starting its innovative BECCS pilot project Drax has been talking to several industries about using its CO2 in their processes. This could be to produce concrete, within the food and drinks industry or creating synthetic fuels to use in hard-to-decarbonise sectors like aviation.
  • Drax announced in May it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Equinor and National Grid Ventures. The three energy companies will work together to explore how a large-scale carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) network and a hydrogen production facility could be constructed in the Humber in the mid-2020s.
  • The 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 Mt CO2 – around half of the remaining carbon in the economy that the UK will need to capture to become ‘net zero’.
  • Today Drax is capturing a tonne of carbon dioxide a day from its C-Capture BECCS pilot – once scaled up it could be capturing up to 16 million tonnes of carbon a day from its four biomass generating units.
  • The agricultural sector was one highlighted by the Committee on Climate Change in its Net Zero report, as being too slow to make progress in reducing emissions.
  • The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has found that around a third of all global cropland is used to grow animal feed, in the form of soy.
  • Around 15 per cent of all fish caught globally are turned into feed for commercial fisheries, according to analysis by the UK’s Sea Fish Industry Authority.
  • Using bacteria to make protein for animal feed was first considered in the 1970s. It is now more economically viable as producing fishmeal powder from milling and drying fish parts has become more expensive and has not kept up with growing human demand for fish.

 About Deep Branch Biotechnology:  Deep Branch Biotechnology’s mission is to transform the polluters of today into the producers of tomorrow. Their technology removes carbon dioxide directly from emissions, generating single cell protein, a clean and sustainable alternative to soy and fishmeal, the conventional protein sources for livestock and aquaculture feed. They were recently recognised in Forbes’ European 30 Under 30 Manufacturing & Industry 2019.

For more information visit www.deepbranchbio.com

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.

B2B supply:  

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/us

Morehouse May Madness Street Festival offers variety of music, entertainment and fun – May 3 & 4

19 April 2019

Press releases

Event Schedule

  • Mike McKenzie will kick-off the festival at the Rose Theatre at 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 3. Tickets, which are $20 each with students and senior 65 and older $10 each, are available at the Visitor Center (281-0911), Cox Funeral Home (283-3100) and at the door.
  • With no gate or admission fees, the Festival begins at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, May 4 in the historic district of Bastrop and will last until 4:00 p.m. Security will be provided on Friday night, May 3, for those vendors that want to set their booths up from 5:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Friday.
  • Downtown streets (Madison, Washington, and Franklin) will close at approximately 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning to allow vendors to set-up early. Jefferson Street will remain open to through traffic.
  • The Morehouse Country Club golf scramble participants tee-off at 10:00 a.m. Saturday. The Bastrop High School Class of 1969 will be recognized during the event by the emcees on the west end of the courthouse where the live music will be located.
  • There will be a pet costume contest organized by Melton Veterinary Hospital at 11:00 a.m. Saturday in the Kid Zone and the Memorial Methodist Church will bless pets at their booth throughout the day.

While enjoying the fantastic food available at the festival, MMM (Morehouse May Madness) guests will be entertained with live music from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Saturday with seating available at benches and tables with colorful umbrellas for shade.

  • Entertainment begins with local group, Homegrown, who will play from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.
  • Joey Kennedy and the New Life Church musicians will play from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.
  • Willie Johnson will play his saxophone from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 Noon.
  • Barrett Pepper and Chad Thomas will take the stage at Noon until 2:00 p.m.
  • The CC Players will provide entertainment from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

On stage to help with introductions and recognitions, will be emcees Gary Guice, Patricia Bordelon, and Mayor Henry Cotton.  Representatives from the MMM Title Sponsors, Drax Biomass and Morehouse Community Medical Centers, will be welcoming everyone to the festival as well.

The event, which is organized by volunteers, would not be possible without the festival sponsors and the tremendous amount of community support that the festival has received.  All funds that are raised from the festival are reinvested in future Morehouse May Madness Street Festivals.  Organizers would like to express appreciation to all those who have worked to make the event a success.

For more information go to www.morehousemaymadness.com, find the festival on Facebook, or call (318) 282-2985.

New tech to tackle climate change could fuel UK economy post-Brexit

28 March 2019

Press releases

Speaking at the ‘Fuelling an economy fit for the future’ panel event at the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference in London on Thursday March 28, Mr Gardiner said that we can create the zero-carbon economy that provides sustainable jobs and new opportunities in areas that have suffered industrial decline, whilst at the same time meeting our climate change objectives.

Will Gardiner, CEO, Drax Group. Click to view high resolution photo.

Mr Gardiner said:

“Climate change is the greatest challenge the world now faces – but it is also creating major new investment and job opportunities, which could be transformational after Brexit.

“Globally, by 2030, estimates show that the economic opportunity from creating a zero-carbon economy is upwards of £20 trillion – and the UK is ideally placed to drive the innovation required to take advantage of this.

“We’re already leading the world when it comes to decarbonising power generation – we’ve done more than any other country to remove coal from the grid. We must continue to drive innovation, to deliver further social, economic and environmental benefits through new technologies like carbon capture and storage, smart meters and electric vehicles.”

Drax has converted two thirds of the UK’s biggest power station at Drax in North Yorkshire from coal to use sustainable biomass, making it the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe – delivering carbon savings of more than 80%.

Wood pellet storage dome at Drax Power Station (centre) and chimney (left). A BECCS pilot is underway to show that 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions could be captured, stored or re-used. Click to view high resolution photo.

It now has ambitions to become the world’s first negative emissions power station by using bioenergy carbon capture and storage technology. Its BECCS pilot plant is the world’s first to capture carbon dioxide from a 100% biomass feedstock. If it can be scaled up, the power produced could help reduce the harmful gases accumulating in the atmosphere which cause climate change.

Humber Bridge

Mr Gardiner explained that Drax is working with the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, and other interested parties to explore the role carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) can play in turning the Humber Estuary into the world’s first ‘net-zero-carbon cluster’ by 2040.

“The Humber is strategically important – it is the most carbon intensive industrial cluster in the UK. The deployment of a new technology like CCUS could be most transformational there – reducing carbon emissions, extending the life of carbon intensive businesses, protecting jobs and creating growth,” Mr Gardiner explained.

“New technologies are already transforming the way we live and work – they are changing businesses and communities, and have the potential to improve everyone’s quality of life as well as Britain’s ability to compete in a global economy.

We are funding a PhD at Sheffield University — customer interaction with vehicle to grid systems using smart technology.

“Electricity demand could increase by around 25% compared to today, as households and businesses switch to electric vehicles and electric heating. We need to ensure that this electric revolution is powered by clean, green electricity that provides a more sustainable economy for future generations.”

Drax Group is also the UK’s biggest supplier of renewable electricity to businesses through Haven Power and Opus Energy, its B2B energy supply businesses.

It supplies electricity to 396,000 business premises and is looking at ways in which batteries, smart technologies and EVs can deliver economic benefits for its customers.

Media contact

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712670888

Editor’s Notes

  • Will Gardiner is speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference panel event at 11.40am on Thursday March 28, 2019, titled: “Fuelling an economy fit for the future’.
  • The British Chambers of Commerce includes 53 accredited Chambers which make up its network representing tens of thousands of businesses of all shapes and sizes, which employ almost six million people across the UK.
  • The New Climate Economy report by The Global Commission on the Climate and Economy states that analysis showed that ‘bold action could yield a direct economic gain of US$26 trillion through to 2030 compared with business-as-usual. And this is likely to be a conservative estimate’.
  • BECCS is a vital technology in the fight against climate change. The Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering have estimated that BECCS could enable the UK to capture approximately 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2050 – around half of the remaining carbon in the economy that we will need to capture to become ‘net zero’.
  • Power generation with BECCS could also provide essential system services to the UK power grid, meaning a more secure, cost-effective electricity system.
  • The Humber is ideally located for accessing offshore stores for carbon dioxide in the North Sea such as the Endurance field, which is roughly 60 miles off the coast.
  • AS well as working with the Humber LEP Drax is in discussions with the BBPA about the possibility of its members using the carbon captured to help keep the fizz in the drinks industry and it is looking at how its CO2 could be used in the creation of synthetic fuels.
  • Drax Power Station is the largest renewable power generator in the country – producing enough renewable electricity for more than four million households.
  • The conversion of two thirds of the power station from coal to use sustainable biomass has played an important role in enabling the UK’s power system to decarbonise faster than any other in the world, whilst maintaining secure supplies for the millions of homes and businesses which rely on it.
  • More renewables, like wind and solar, are crucial for reducing carbon emissions and helping us to meet our climate targets – but flexible, lower carbon generation, is also vital for controlling the costs of maintaining a stable, low carbon power system.
  • The IPCC recognised in its special report last year that to meet our climate change targets, up to 85% of global power generation needs to come from renewables by 2050. This means the remainder will have to be provided by flexible sources, which can support the system and help to keep costs down – such as biomass, hydro, pumped storage as well as high efficiency gas.

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 six 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.

B2B supply:  

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/us

Environmental Permit issued for Abergelli Power

26 February 2019

Press releases

The permit gives Drax licence to operate its proposed Abergelli Power gas project, subject to complying with the relevant national and European directives that set the requirements for environmental protection.

The decision was reached following consultation with the public and relevant stakeholders and is another step forward in the development of the project.

A separate decision to grant planning permission to the project is expected later this year.

Further details on the Environmental Permit granted to the project can be found on NRW’s website.