Tag: community

Community voices – Cruachan, Argyll and Bute

16 October 2025

Opinion

Cruachan Power Station, affectionately known as the ‘Hollow Mountain’, resides deep inside Ben Cruachan mountain in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Over the past 60 years, Cruachan has been keeping the lights on for hundreds of thousands of homes across the UK.

But Cruachan is more than just hydropower: it’s been an iconic part of the landscape and local community since 1965. Through the Drax Foundation and Community Fund, Cruachan supports a range of community and educational projects, from Scottish rainforest restoration to STEM learning.

At Drax, we’re proud to be working to build a future that’s positive for climate, nature and people.

Hear from the local community voices in Cruachan, Argyll and Bute.

Berni McMillan, Head Teacher, Taynuilt Primary School

Sarah Cameron, Community Manager (Scotland), Drax; and Julie Young, CEO, Argyll Countryside Trust (ACT)

Kevin Roy, Production Manager, Drax

Voices from the wider community

 

Featured image caption: Students take part in STEM learning sessions at the Glasgow Science Centre.

Community voices – Selby, North Yorkshire

10 October 2025

Opinion

At Drax, we believe the energy transition can and should benefit everyone. As part of our People Positive pillar, laid out in our Sustainability Framework, we’re seeking to make tangible improvements to the lives and livelihoods of the communities we operate in. This goes beyond providing jobs at Drax sites — it requires social investment, collaboration, education and long-term support.

DPS is the largest power station in the UK and located near Selby in North Yorkshire. In 2024 it provided the grid with enough power for five million homes – equivalent to every home in London, or Wales and Scotland combined. We also support the wider community by investing in local projects in North Yorkshire and beyond.

For us, sustainability isn’t about words, it’s about action. Constant tireless action to benefit climate, nature and people.​ 

Hear more from the local community voices in Selby, North Yorkshire.

Sam Wright, Principal & Chief Executive, Heart of Yorkshire Education Group

Talks about the proximity to Drax and the supporting role it plays for Selby College.

Diana Taylor, Managing Director, Future Humber

Speaking about Drax’s focus on community, building prosperity and local skills and talent.

Ben Shingler, Innovation Research Manager, Drax

Outlines Drax’s outreach into the community and the impact this can have.

Voices from the wider community

What Drax means to the local community.

Featured image caption: Selby students take part in a carbon capture and storage bootcamp at Selby College.

How Wood Pellets Support Clean Energy Goals, Forests, and Communities

1 October 2025

Opinion

By Kyla Cheynet, Director of Sustainability, Drax

When we think of clean energy, solar panels and wind turbines often dominate the conversation, but as we work to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future, it’s going to take all clean energy industries working together. Biomass, in the form of wood pellets, has been quietly making a big impact by helping countries reduce carbon emissions, support sustainable forestry, and transition away from fossil fuels. 

What Are Wood Pellets? 

At Drax, we operate within the larger forest industry, making our wood pellets from sawmill residues and low-grade wood from the forest. Mill residuals come in the form of shavings, sawdust and chips, while material sourced from sustainable harvests comes from tree trunks, tops, and limbs which are too small or malformed to make sawtimber.  Wood that arrives in roundwood form is debarked and chipped on-site, with bark being used as fuel to dry the high-moisture chips and sawdust.  Once the fiber is dried it, is resized by “hammermills” into a very small particles which are then compressed under high pressure by “pellet mills” which cause the natural resins in the wood to bind together forming small wood pellets that look just like those used for pellet burning grills or home heating.  The wood pellets we produce are: 

  • Renewable: Sourced from sustainably managed forests and manufacturing residuals. 
  • Efficient: Low moisture content means high energy output. 
  • Easily transported: Pellets can be loaded on trucks, railcars, and ships with ease.  

Supporting Sustainable Forestry 

The forests that we source our biomass from are managed in accordance with best practices designed to support the health and growth of these forests over the long term.   We have strict criteria in place to ensure our fiber sourcing helps maintain or improve forest health, landscape-level carbon stocks, biodiversity, and forest-related values communities depend on.  

In the U.S. South, forest inventory has expanded rapidly in recent decades, largely due to improved forest management on private lands These vigorously growing forests are considered a wood basket to the world.  Active forest management is essential to maintaining the productivity and ecological value of these forests.  Thinning, an intermediate harvest aimed at reducing tree density, is essential to maintaining forest health. Thinning not only increases future sawtimber yields by allocating greater resources to “crop trees”, but also improves the forest’s resilience to pests, disease, and wildfire, all while enhancing understory plant diversity and wildlife habitat. 

Most trees removed during thinning operations are generally undersized or unsuitable for lumber, but they are ideal for producing wood pellets! In this way, the biomass market creates an incentive for managers to engage in practices that increase the health and vigor of forests on their land. 

Why Is This Important? 

At Drax, our mission is to help meet the world’s increasing demand for secure energy, sustainably. Sustainably sourced biomass plays an important role in supporting energy security as the world decarbonizes, displacing fossil fuels with renewable, dispatchable power that supports intermittent renewables like wind and solar.  

Biomass markets also bring business to rural communities. In addition to direct employment opportunities in manufacturing Drax’s operations supports hundreds of jobs throughout the larger forest industry in Mississippi. Drax pellet plants also create market opportunities for landowners hoping to generate a return on their forest investment.  Markets for low-grade biomass incentivize landowners to continue managing forests rather than converting or selling them off to other uses.  And we all benefit when forests remain forests!

To learn more about Drax’s impact in Gloster, Mississippi, visit www.drax.com/gloster  

Delivering positive action in our communities

16 May 2025

Opinion

Being a Chief Sustainability Officer makes me an optimist. I have a key part to play in how Drax embeds sustainability throughout the business, across our entire value chain, and that’s what gets me up every day.

For us at Drax, sustainability isn’t about words, it’s about action. Constant, tireless action to benefit climate, nature and people. It’s not just about our biomass sourcing, or the suppliers we choose to work with, or how we operate. It’s also about the impact we’re having in the communities where we operate.

Our commitment to be a good neighbour

Community investment is central to our commitment to be a good neighbour. We’re seeking to make tangible improvements to the lives and livelihoods of the communities we operate in through social investment, collaboration, education and long-term support.

One of the ways we do this is via the Drax Foundation and our Community Fund. Over the last 12 months we have invested more than ever before in our communities, disbursing £3.6m in charitable giving – a 33% rise from the previous year. This takes total investment to £6.3m since we launched the initiatives in 2023.

The Drax Foundation provides grant funding for non-profit organisations that improve access within underserved communities to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education, community green spaces, and measures to address fuel poverty and energy-efficiency.

The Community Fund compliments the Foundation by investing in grassroots organisations and volunteer-led initiatives that support the unique needs and challenges of our communities.

Giving support where it’s needed the most

At Drax we have a dedicated Community Affairs team to ensure our charitable giving is focused on where it’s needed the most. Over the last 12 months our funding is projected to benefit more than 98,000 people in the regions where Drax operates This includes 13,606 children with access to STEM education and 75 adults with ‘green’ skills training programmes.

For the past two years we’ve been working with Scientists in Schools in Canada, helping them to expand their STEM programming in the regions where Drax operates in British Columbia and Alberta. With a particular focus on engaging indigenous groups, this year we’ll build on this partnership by enabling another 3,000 young learners to participate.

We’ve supported nature projects as diverse as rainforest restoration with the Argyll Countryside Trust in the Scottish Highlands (yes, rainforests in Scotland!) and protection of priority bird habitats in the Southern US with the National Audubon Society. 2024 funding is projected to provide 8,836 people with access to improved community green spaces and enable 7,406 young people to participate in nature-based learning.

Across the UK we’re helping to reduce school energy bills and support those living in fuel poverty. We’ve funded energy efficiency improvements in over 260 schools near our operations in North Yorkshire, East Midlands, Scotland and East of England, and we’ve worked with partners to support 2,800 households in ‘fuel crisis’ so that they can receive financial and advisory support to keep the lights and heating on.

The range and diversity of projects we support is vast, but what they all have in common is that they fit within our wider business objective to deliver positive outcomes for the climate, nature and people.

What’s to come

For 2025, Drax’s major focus is sustainability. Continuing to partner with and invest in our communities is a key pillar of our new sustainability approach. To build on this commitment, we have pledged a further £1.5m to support 63 projects across our communities, working to enhance nature spaces, empower children and adults with STEM, and provide energy saving support. Within this we’re also addressing the unique needs of our communities through funding, outreach and direct engagement. We’ll share more soon on the progress of these projects.

We believe the energy transition should benefit everyone, and we believe in creating opportunities. For the year ahead, I look forward to how we can keep enhancing our positive social impact, listening and contributing to communities wherever we operate. It takes collaboration, determination and willingness to learn. Let’s take positive action.

Find out more in our latest Drax Foundation Annual Review