In January 2025, government launched their AI Opportunities Action Plan, which has the ambition of ramping up AI adoption across the UK. The Action Plan recognises that AI is developing at an ‘extraordinary pace’ and that it could be a significant lever in kickstarting economic growth.
We believe Drax Power Station offers a world leading opportunity to meet the government’s missions of growth, clean power and opportunities for all, driven by widespread expansion of our AI capabilities.
Drax's vision
Our vision is to underpin the UK as a global leader for AI whilst driving transformative regional growth. To achieve this we seek to develop AI Infrastructure at Drax Power Station, working with partners across York and North Yorkshire, serving as a catalyst to re-write the economic future of Yorkshire and the Humber, and becoming a dynamic engine of innovation that delivers national and global impact.
Our priorities are to unlock sustainable growth, foster high value employment and position the region at the forefront of the UK’s digital economy.
How Drax Power Station can support AI Data Centres
Today, Drax Power Station is a vital part of the UK’s energy security as well as being one of the north’s critical economic assets, The plant is capable of delivering 2.6GW of renewable electricity; in 2024 it provided enough power for five million homes at any one time – that’s equivalent to every home in London, or the same output as a wind farm the size of Sheffield.
Of equal importance to the power that plant generates is the system support services that Drax Power Station can provide. The generation units can be turned up and down, providing an almost instant response to balance out fluctuations in supply from weather dependent renewables like wind and solar, or demand on the system. They also provide a service called inertia, with the spinning turbines acting like shock absorbers, soothing out any changes in supply and demand across the whole electricity system. The power station provides the grid reactive power and voltage control helping push the electricity around the system once it has been generated, and through the power of its generators provides a high ‘Short Circuit Level’, which helps manage disturbances to the electricity network. These are services that other intermittent renewable sources cannot provide and are important for effective grid operations.
Our vision looks to ensure that Drax Power Station’s ability to support grid operations continues in parallel with serving the requirements of a large scale data centre demand. This approach could enable the power station to operate on a bi-directional or dual purpose basis, providing both power to the data centre and continuing to contribute to the energy security of the UK power system, but without the need for subsidy support. This holistic energy approach would mean Drax Power Station could continue to provide energy security for the UK, alongside critical grid support services, whilst powering an AI revolution.
Delivering local impact
Our vision is grounded in our commitment to our communities, and the ambition to continue to drive transformational regional growth. Through the delivery of data centres at Drax, we now have the opportunity to lead the next transition, rewriting the economic future of Yorkshire and the Humber, unlocking sustainable growth, fostering high value employment, and positioning this region at the forefront of the UK’s digital economy.
Looking to the future
This is a unique and compelling opportunity for a data centre development, building on our transformation from coal to biomass to act as a beacon for industrial reinvention in the north, within the UK’s largest industrial cluster.
Looking to the future, this vision not only has the potential to power the UK’s AI transformation, it also would provide a route to support the deployment of the pioneering carbon removals technology, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) helping the UK achieve its climate targets and creating the world’s first carbon negative data centre.
The site already benefits from the critical attributes to deliver this ambition, including power station with 2.6GW generation capacity that can power a co-located data centre, an abundance of development land largely within an industrial setting, existing licenced access to river water and cooling infrastructure, capacity to provide back-up power through import grid connection and on-site generation options, and extensive development and operational expertise through an existing workforce.