Drax earns spot on the podium with C$10,000 donation to the BC Summer Games

Renewable energy company Drax has donated C$10,000 to this year’s BC Summer Games to support sponsorship of the soccer podium and other activities related to one of Prince George’s largest events.

As a Friend of the Games, the proceeds will go towards organising and hosting the July 21-24 event as well as investing in infrastructure to provide a legacy for the community.

Matt White, Executive Vice President, Pellet Operations

Matt White, Executive Vice President of Drax’s Pellet Operations in North America said:

“These young athletes define commitment and determination – two qualities we can get behind. It’s important to support the people who live in the areas where we operate and we fully embrace the motto of this year’s Games, Spirit Lives Here – Njan tsen ghuna – and we encourage all our employees to take part in the Games this summer.”

This is the first time that Prince George has hosted the BC Summer Games since 1990. The BC Winter and BC Summer Games bring together the best young athletes from across the province. Nearly 4,000 athletes and their families and coaches are expected to attend the event.

Renee McCloskey, President of the Prince George 2022 BC Summer Games said:

“The young athletes coming to Prince George for the 2022 BC Summer Games inspire us to plan an exceptional experience for them. The generous support of our partners and Friends of the Games ensures we will deliver on that. The spirit of community that lives here will make these Games the best.”

Renee McCloskey, President of the Prince George 2022 BC Summer Games. [Photo credit: Chuck Chin]

Drax is committed to supporting the communities in which it operates by promoting sustainable forestry and investing in local economic development. It is a major producer of sustainable biomass with seven pellet plants in BC and two in Alberta, Canada.

To volunteer for the BC Summer Games, click here

ENDS

Main image caption: Torch bearers and athletes Cody Bailey and Alison Emberly lighting the torch for the BC Summer Games while students from Polaris Montessori Elementary School perform indigenous drumming at the event. [Photo credit: Chris Leboe]

Media contacts:

Selina Williams
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07712 230 393

Ali Lewis
Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712 670 888

Editor’s Notes

  • Drax produces sustainable compressed wood pellets at its pellet plants in Canada and the US.
  • Drax has seven pellet plants in BC (Smithers, Houston, Burns Lake, Meadowbank, Williams Lake, Armstrong, Lavington) and two in Alberta (High Level, Entwistle)
  • Drax’s Canadian wood pellets are principally sourced from sawmill residues, including sawdust and chips. The remainder comes from residues from harvesting activities such as damaged, diseased and rotten wood, which would otherwise be burned by the side of the road.
  • Some of the pellets are shipped to Drax Power Station in England and used to generate renewable electricity for millions of UK homes and businesses. The rest is sold to other customers around the world.
  • Drax’s pellet plants in Canada also deliver economic growth and jobs and support the forest products sector and its supply chain.

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 4Mt 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 capacity of 4.6Mt, which will increase to c.5Mt once developments are complete.

Drax is targeting 8Mt of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3Mt 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 mills supply around 30% 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: 

Drax is the largest supplier of renewable electricity to UK businesses, supplying 100% renewable electricity as standard to more than 370,000 sites through Drax and Opus Energy.

It offers 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