Tag: Flexgen

The next big challenge for data centres isn’t more power

15 October 2026

Opinion
Battery energy storage site and wind turbines

This story first appeared in Data Center POST

  • Data centers are so vital to modern life that the UK has granted them critical national infrastructure status, elevating data and energy security to matters of national security.
  • While AI-driven energy demand is rising rapidly, the real hurdle is managing highly unpredictable, variable daily load patterns rather than just generating more total power.
  • Resilience requires a flexible electricity system capable of balancing supply and demand in real time using solutions like energy storage, dispatchable generation, smart energy management, and workload shifting.
  • Energy flexibility has become a business differentiator with companies like Google and Meta diversifying their power sources, while grid trials and rapid battery storage growth show real momentum.

Data Centers are so essential to modern life that, in 2024, the UK granted them the same critical national infrastructure status as water, energy and emergency services.

Protecting data infrastructure relies in part on protecting power and maintaining energy security. This has exposed a new reality: as data and energy become strategic dependencies, both are matters of national security.

As further proof of this, data centers and critical energy sites are known to be targeted in times of international conflict; such actions can exacerbate ongoing supply disruption and price volatility.

Against this backdrop, it’s clear that systems built on concentrated energy sources, such as an overreliance on one fuel type, can leave countries and operators exposed.

At the same time, it’s impossible to ignore the speed at which AI-driven energy demand is climbing. Data Centers are already consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, and that growth is not anticipated to slow.

However, because AI workloads are unevenly distributed and highly variable, data centers can have unpredictable fluctuations in power needs, surging during processing, dipping when they pause to share data or sync, and then repeating that cycle when they start the next batch. While daily averages might look consistent, demand throughout the day can fluctuate by hundreds of megawatts every few minutes.

In an environment of rising demand, unpredictable and dynamic load patterns, and geopolitical risk, simply adding more generation will not be enough. The real challenge is flexibility.

Flexibility will define the next era of energy

There is no single technology that can deliver the secure supply that AI will require. Resilience comes from combining dispatchable generation, renewable energy sources, storage, and smart energy management into a system flexible enough to respond to growing demand while guarding against volatility and disruption.

A data center’s ability to consistently access energy depends on the electricity system’s ability to adapt to changing conditions in real time, balancing supply and demand while maintaining a steady flow of power. Generation provides the power. Flexibility determines how effectively that power can be delivered and used, acting as a shock absorber against swings in supply and demand.

Historically, electricity systems have been designed around relatively predictable demand patterns.

Today, AI is introducing a new kind of demand. This dynamic is the reason flexibility will become one of the defining aims for the energy industry in years to come.

Flexibility as a business differentiator

Technology companies like Google and Meta are already diversifying to ensure energy security for their facilities. Google, for example, is purchasing nuclear power from Kairos Power’s small modular reactors to serve its AI facilities, while Meta has introduced a space-solar partnership with Overview Energy.

These investments demonstrate how energy resilience and flexibility are emerging as commercial differentiators for operators. Reliable access to power can be the difference between a data center’s success or failure. It allows organizations to manage risk, control costs, and scale more confidently. Flexibility can come from both the supply side (storage, dispatchable generation, and intermittent renewable generation) and the demand side (smart energy management, shifting workloads).

  • Energy Storage: Captures electricity when supply is abundant to be used later on when demand is high. Solutions include battery energy storage systems and pumped storage hydro.
  • Dispatchable Generation: Can ramp up quickly to generate electricity when needed. Examples include biomass and natural gas power plants.
  • Smart Energy Management: Using advanced software and AI, virtual power plants and other solutions can optimise cooling systems, server utilisation, and power consumption in real-time based on grid conditions.
  • Shifting Workloads: Moves non-urgent workloads to off-peak periods or physical locations to reduce stress on energy systems when demand is higher.

Together, these approaches can bolster energy systems and enable them to better respond to AI’s increasingly dynamic demand, while insulating against volatility and price swings.

Where We Stand Today

The good news is that there are signs of meaningful progress. In the UK, battery storage capacity surpassed nuclear generation for the first time, leaping from just under 10 MW to almost 7 GW in less than a decade. Elsewhere, earlier this year Emerald AI and the National Grid joined with other partners to complete a trial which proved that, through smart software, AI facilities can adjust electricity consumption in response to real-time demand signals without impacting critical operations.

Data centers need more of these solutions quickly because the cost of getting system flexibility wrong can be high, including rising costs, renewable curtailment, and reduced energy security. Meanwhile, as the geopolitical shocks that rocked energy markets have shown, reverting to and relying on the cheapest or fastest deployed single source also carries great risk.

AI’s energy demand is often framed as a race for more megawatts, but that’s an oversimplification. AI’s growth will depend just as much on the electricity system’s ability to adapt and continue delivering as it will on the megawatts.

To build a secure energy system capable of supporting the next generation of AI infrastructure, the UK must invest in flexible technologies that can meet the dynamic needs of future energy demand.

Building the energy system behind Britain’s next industrial era

14 October 2026

Opinion

This story first appeared in Biomass Magazine.

I’ve always thought of energy as the silent partner behind economic growth and technological progress—rarely visible when it’s working; unmistakable the moment it isn’t.

When London opened the world’s first electric underground railway in 1890, it showed the scale a new technology can achieve when matched with the right energy infrastructure. I see the same test facing today’s emerging technologies, from AI-enabled healthcare and electric transport to advanced manufacturing and digital public services. It is going to be very difficult to scale them unless the electricity system has enough power, keeps prices sensible and can flex generation by the minute rather than the season.

Where the strain is showing

The U.K. government projects that electricity demand could double by 2050. AI and data centers alone are expected to account for up to 16% of Britain’s electricity demand within a decade, and that’s before we include everything else electrifying around them.

The system is already proving it can evolve. Wind was Britain’s largest electricity source for four consecutive quarters, with the first quarter of 2026 the most productive on record, while fossil fuel generation fell by 16% year over year, according to Drax’s Electric Insights report. Growth on that scale changes the job in front of us: The more we lean on wind and solar, the more critical flexible generation and storage become.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and renewed tensions in the Middle East have exposed the risks of overreliance on single fuel sources or geographies. The core lesson remains that resilience comes from a mix of energy sources, and that includes both intermittent renewables and baseload power such as biomass generation.

Solving the energy trilemma

Much of what’s needed already exists. The right combination of technologies can deliver a more affordable, secure and sustainable system.

Affordability: Wind and solar are already among the cheapest sources of electricity available, but affordability is about more than the cost of generation. A balanced system uses flexible generation and storage to manage weather and supply swings while reducing exposure to price volatility.

Security: Renewables made up around half of Britain’s electricity last year. But an important part of security is whether the system can deliver it reliably. Maintaining that reliability as the renewable share grows will require dispatchable sources that can generate power exactly when it’s needed, including sustainable biomass.

Sustainability: When sustainably sourced, biomass supports healthy forest management and helps limit new atmospheric carbon, while complementing other renewable technologies rather than competing with them.

Real challenges remain: political and investment uncertainty, local opposition to new infrastructure and intensifying global competition for capital all slow progress. So do practical constraints—some data center projects are facing grid connection delays of up to 15 years.

Bills reflect the entire system

For most people, energy only becomes visible when the bill arrives, reflecting the entire system—from the generation we’ve built to the networks we’ve established. Prices are signals. When demand outpaces supply or supply is constrained, costs and volatility rise.

Three forces will shape where prices go from here:

Policy: Market and planning reform and faster grid connections will decide how quickly Britain can turn investment into infrastructure.

Demand: Accelerating electrification and data center growth will decide how much expansion is needed.

Exposure: Our continued reliance on the global gas market and other single sources of energy will decide how much of that cost moves with events far outside our control.

Building the system behind the bill

At Drax, we’re investing in a diverse portfolio across the country to support the U.K.’s energy needs. That includes our £548 million ($742.5 million) acquisition of Bluefield Solar’s wind and solar portfolio, alongside our continued investment in biomass and battery storage.

Biomass plays a distinct role in that mix as a renewable, dispatchable source of generation capable of running when intermittent renewables cannot. Drax Power Station also provides vital system services beyond generation, including inertia and electricity system restoration, helping to maintain stability and support the restoration of electricity supplies following a major disruption.

Renewable energy, data centers, advanced manufacturing and grid investment can become engines of regional growth and job creation, not competitors for the same limited capacity. If we truly want to tackle affordability, we need to invest ahead of demand to build the flexibility Britain needs into the system before today’s constraints become tomorrow’s bottlenecks.

I think about London’s first electric railways often and how we now hop on and off the Tube without thinking about the energy systems working quietly in the background. The technologies defining our next era are no different; they depend on the electricity system behind them that is often forgotten. But we can’t forget to invest in the silent partner for innovation.

To solve northern power bottlenecks, future-proof the grid and UK’s energy storage

29 September 2026

Opinion

This article has been republished with permission from The Sunday Times Scotland.

Britain is making meaningful progress in developing a lower-carbon electricity system, thanks in large part to northern low-carbon generation.

The next challenge is building networks and sources of flexibility that can make the most of that investment, while supporting the growth of businesses and communities across the country.

Britain’s energy system is changing rapidly, and as it does it reshapes how regions are positioned to compete for opportunities to grow and prosper.

Offshore wind has become a major source of electricity, solar is growing rapidly, and investment into onshore renewables, energy storage and other forms of generation continues to advance.

Changing how we generate electricity also changes the demands we place on the grid.

One of the most noteworthy challenges is simply where electricity is being generated compared with where it is being used.

Why is electricity generation concentrated in Scotland and northern England?

A majority of the UK’s new generation and storage is being developed in Scotland and the north of England. Together, these areas account for more than half of Britain’s low-carbon generation capacity, while representing less than a fifth of electricity demand.

So, when the wind is blowing strongly in Scotland, for example, there can be a significant electricity surplus produced in the north while demand is much higher elsewhere.

Transmission lines whisk most of this power away to other regions experiencing higher demand, but there are limits to how much the system can handle at one time. Once those limits are exceeded, generators are often compensated to reduce their output – and the UK has already paid out more than £1bn in wind curtailment costs this year.

Solar adds another dimension. Large solar farms are now an established part of the generation mix, while thousands of homes and businesses are generating their own electricity from rooftop panels.

On a sunny summer day, solar can make a significant contribution to meeting demand but, naturally, output varies throughout the day and falls away altogether overnight.

Wind and solar are very different technologies, but they have something important in common: their output depends on the weather, and neither is guaranteed to produce electricity at the same time or place as it is needed.

Energy storage from technologies such as batteries and pumped hydro storage can soak up some of this excess power and deploy it when demand is high but, despite a recent battery boom, capacity today is still nowhere near the levels needed to utilise all of it.

Why does Britain need more transmission capacity?

To reduce our reliance on power redirection, there is a clear need to improve the network itself. That means continuing to invest in high-voltage transmission infrastructure, including new lines and subsea connections.

High-voltage direct current links will also have an important role to play in moving large amounts of electricity between regions.

This is particularly relevant as electricity becomes more important to the wider economy.

We need to think about the electricity network not just in terms of keeping the lights on, but as part of the infrastructure that supports economic growth.

A business deciding where to build a new factory, data centre or other major facility needs to know that it will be able to get the electricity it requires. Long connection times can make that decision much harder.

How is clearing grid connections backlog helping viable projects move forward?

The legacy first-come, first-served approach left more than 700GW of projects waiting for grid connections, including projects that are less likely to get built or less strategically vital. Prompting the National Energy System Operator’s (NESO) move towards giving greater priority to projects that are viable and strategically important is a sensible development.

We need to make sure that genuine projects can progress, while avoiding a system where network capacity is effectively reserved for projects that are less likely to go ahead. Getting this right will help unlock investment that is currently waiting on the sidelines.

What role do energy storage and flexible generation play in an efficient system?

A system that is increasingly reliant on wind and solar needs to be able to respond to generation changes and demand mismatches.

To maximise renewable generation at scale, the system needs to adapt seamlessly, shifting power across timelines and geographies to meet demand head on. When a diversified generation and storage portfolio is paired with a flexible grid, the system can absorb volatility to keep reliability, affordability and sustainability all stable under pressure.

Our acquisition of Scotland-based asset optimisation platform Flexitricity earlier this year reflects a key component of this mix, incorporating a tech-enabled solution to help streamline how and when organisations use power in response to the needs of the system. Long-duration storage, including pumped hydro, can also help by storing electricity when it’s abundant and releasing it when it’s needed.

Gas and biomass generation can also provide dispatchable power when the system needs it, helping to provide the reliability that consumers and businesses expect. As the generation mix changes, having a range of technologies that can respond at different times will become increasingly important.

It’s critical to remember that no single technology can solve every problem. The electricity system of the future will need the right combination of generation, transmission, storage and flexibility to meet projected demand consistently.

Powering future economic opportunity with a stronger electricity grid

Power is essential to all economy opportunity, and reliable access to power is a game-changing differentiator at both the regional and national level.

As electrification continues to advance across major industries ranging from technology and transportation to manufacturing and healthcare, it’s increasingly clear that power has become a prerequisite for growth.

At the same time, building and upgrading the grid requires engineers, construction workers, manufacturers and a wide range of specialist businesses. Developing energy infrastructure can support skilled jobs and supply chains across the country.

There is an opportunity here to make sure the benefits of the energy transition are felt beyond the places where electricity demand is highest. Scotland and the north of England have enormous renewable energy potential, and better connections can open opportunities and help attract industries that want access to clean and reliable power.

That could be particularly important as Britain looks to strengthen its industrial base and compete for investment in areas such as manufacturing, technology and other energy intensive industries.

Companies like Drax are already working to build out the right mix of low-carbon generation and storage to meet the needs of the future. The next step is to ensure the infrastructure surrounding that generation is capable of keeping pace.

A stronger transmission network, a more effective approach to grid connections and a good mix of flexible technologies will allow us to make better use of the electricity we are already generating.

It will also give businesses, consumers, investors, and governments greater confidence that the power they need will be available when and where they need it.

The energy transition is changing not just how Britain generates electricity, but where that electricity comes from and how the energy system as a whole needs to operate.

If we build the right system, developing the network alongside our changing generation mix, that flexibility will help to insulate against market shocks, improve affordability, unlock future innovation, and strengthen our collective competitiveness for current and future economic opportunities.

Where is Britain’s electricity system heading? A conversation with Will Gardiner and Iain Staffell

16 September 2026

Opinion

Britain’s energy system is being pulled in many directions at once, with record levels of renewable generation alongside ongoing challenges around affordability, security and resilience.

As part of the Q2 2026 Electric Insights analysis, our CEO Will Gardiner spoke with Electric Insights author and Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London, Iain Staffell, about what Britain’s latest electricity trends reveal about the direction of the power system and what it will take to deliver reliable, affordable net zero electricity.

Watch the full video conversation here:

Or read the transcript here:

Iain: Hello, I’m Iain Staffell, Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London and author of Electric Insights. Today, I’m joined on the call by Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax, as part of our Electric Insights Quarterly analysis. We’ll look at what Britain’s latest electricity trends tell us about where the system is heading and what it will take to make net zero power more affordable and reliable.

Will, thank you for joining me. It feels like Britain’s energy system is being pulled in every direction at once. Bills remain stubbornly high, security is back at the top of the agenda, and we’ve struggled through record temperatures. But we also have record levels of renewable generation. When you put all of these trends together, what stands out the most?

Will: Hi, Iain, and thanks very much for having me today. And there’s definitely a feeling that we’ve made, we here in Britain have made real progress in decarbonising the power system. Now we have a real opportunity to turn some of the challenges into solutions in a way that will strengthen energy security, support growth and deliver wider benefits.

So for me, for example, the idea that actually people talk about Clean Power 2030. Are we going to get there by 2030? And for me, that’s not really the question. I mean, the question is we are going to get there and it’s not so important as to when it’s a question of will. And so I think for me, we need to continue this plan of rolling out homegrown renewables because they are doing much of the heavy lifting. We are reducing reliance on imported fuels. And as we know, in a world where imported fuels, often the price is impacted by geopolitics in ways that is very unhelpful for improving energy security while also reducing emissions and lowering bills. The key challenge we have, of course, is that we need to be fast and we need to be more joined up.

You know, we at Drax have real plans, for example, to add more generation. So we’re adding solar, we’re adding wind. We want to add batteries. And it’s just very difficult still to get stuff connected. So we need to be able to actually join things up and add more stuff that’s actually going to make this transition happen.

But what we’re doing at Drax, is we’re all about delivering resilient, reliable, renewable power and investing in the flexible, low carbon technologies that we need to effectively meet demand.

So we’re looking beyond single technologies. It’s a whole system challenge. How do we get a system which allows for dispatchable renewable, Sorry, for intermittent renewable generation, as in wind and solar, to be more supported by dispatchable generation, whether that’s biomass, whether that’s batteries, whether that’s long duration storage. So I think that’s the whole system challenge I think we need to sort of focus on solving.

But that’s my perspective Iain. And I’d be much more interested in what does the data say to you about where we’re heading and are we heading in the right direction?

Iain: Yeah, I’d say broadly, yes. When wind and solar now produced 40% of our electricity in Britain, cutting the need for imported gas. But the data also show the practical challenges that this is causing. I mean, we’ve got renewables being curtailed. We’ve got more hours with negative power prices and there’s growing strain on the balancing system. So the direction’s encouraging. But we’re paying the price for falling behind on flexibility.

And I think the cost of energy is what concerns most people. And critics point to rising offshore wind prices, expensive grid reinforcement and curtailment costs. And they ask whether the economics of the energy transition still stack up. And how do you respond to that?

Will: I fundamentally do believe that the economics of the transition stack up, right? I mean, things like wind, solar batteries, the technologies that are driving the advancements in those technologies are continuing to drive costs down. Well, at the same time, fossil fuels continue to be volatile. They continue to be impacted by geopolitics, as I already mentioned. So renewables reduces our exposure to that volatility. But obviously there’s also a cost. And that’s about again how do we find that balance.

We have to invest in the grid. We have to invest in storage. We have to invest in flexibility so we can actually to balance the supply and demand. And as I mentioned before, we need to invest in dispatchable low carbon generation that makes renewable power possible.

So one of the things that I think we in the again, in Britain should be more proud of and sort of speak more sort of proudly and happily about, is that we have had policy certainty. We’re very close to policy certainty for a long time about the generation of trying to move to a decarbonised energy system, and that’s really important. And that’s been, I think, more significant than in many countries. And as a result, we’ve made a lot of progress. And the next step is actually how do we now start to encourage more of that flexibility or that resilience that can support intermittent renewables.

Iain: So I mean, you talk about all of the sort of incredible achievements and the investment that we’ve had, but it’s going to take a staggering amount of coordinated work to meet the infrastructure needs over the next decade.

You know, the government’s Clean Power 2030 targets imply adding about 60 to 70GW of solar and wind capacity this decade. So that’s more than doubling what we currently have on the system. Do you think the main challenge is now the technology, or is it delivering it quickly enough and at the right price?

Will: So I actually think the technology is ready. And actually I’m not sure ready is the right phrase. The technology continues to evolve in a positive way. Batteries are going from 2 hours to 4 hours, ultimately to eight hours. The efficiency of solar panels continues to improve. So the technology is there, you know, and many developers like ourselves have significant pipelines, solar, battery storage, etc. that they want to put in place. So I think the technology is there, the investor base is there, and it’s now really all about delivery. And that delivery is the hard part and the barriers are familiar. So planning, getting grid connections, the supply chains, investor confidence. I mean investor confidence is still there. But we need to make sure we don’t lose that. So overcoming these things is not impossible. Absolutely I think we can do it. And I think we need, for example, finding ways to make it easier to get connections is a big topic for us here at Drax. So working on ways that we can do that. So for example, for me, one of the things that’s very challenging is that as a generator trying to get a connection, we don’t actually get firm commitment from the system operators. When this will happen, we could make those more firm and more legally binding. That would be a great step forward. So we need to find ways again to make it easier for us and others to deliver.

Iain: So you’re talking about generation and everyone focuses on electricity supply. It’s always a supply side issue. But do you think demand is also becoming a hot topic?

Will: Absolutely. I mean, and it’s really I would say maybe I’ll make three different points here. So people have been talking about for a while, maybe the last ten years, that electrification is the way to accelerate decarbonisation. And you’re starting to see that happen. That’s electric vehicles, electrifying heat, parts of industry. So that’s a trend that we’ve been seeing and I think starting to have an impact over time.

The second thing which we’re all aware of is data centres. And clearly they’re attracting a lot of controversy. But it is happening and it needs to happen, and we need to do it in the right way. That again will drive demand.

But the third part of this, which I think is an interesting question, is that if we could make the cost of electricity to the end user less expensive, then effectively, that would accelerate the drive and demand, and then the more demand you get a positive virtuous cycle, because if you can have more demand, you can spread the fixed cost of a lot of this grid reinforcement, for example, over a broader sort of land based that would bring the unit cost down over time. So ideas like, for example, moving some of the renewable cost off the energy or the electricity bill, moving on to general taxation, we think would be a very interesting idea to sort of drive the demand. So we think demand will grow, but we think there’s ways that government policy could accelerate that.

Iain: So I mean, a renewable power system has these problems of reduced asset utilisation, but it still has to always be there when people and businesses need electricity. And we all know that the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. And I think batteries, they’re an excellent way for covering the short peaks. But Britain is a windy country, so unlike a lot of the other countries in the world, we need to keep power flowing for days or weeks at a time when it’s particularly cold and the weather is still. So to cope with our weather, we need to get serious about long duration energy storage and clean, dispatchable generation so that supply remains secure in all situations.

Will: Absolutely true. And long duration storage is absolutely part of our plans and we think the UK needs more of it. I think again, technology is helping move in that direction. For example, batteries get to be longer term. But as you say in the UK we left to complain about the weather, don’t we? But do you see that becoming more of a problem in the years ahead?

Iain: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just look at the summer that we’ve been through. We’re seeing Britain’s climate changing before our eyes. You know, we’ve got heat waves and we’ve got droughts at a scale that we haven’t seen before. And I think climate resilience needs to become central to planning hotter summers, stronger winter storms and changing rainfall. They’re all affecting demand generation and the electricity infrastructure. I don’t think we can hold the design for the weather. I don’t think we can design for the weather that we remember from childhood. I mean, the power system needs to cope with wider swings and more extreme conditions that the future will throw at us.

But that said, I don’t want to finish on a negative. We’ve talked a lot about the challenges and the costs. So let me ask, what do you think are the biggest opportunities for Britain as we move forward with the Clean Power Plan?

Will: So, as we as we started this conversation, I think Britain has made more progress than many countries in decarbonising, which means we have a bigger share of power driven by intermittent renewables, means that we actually now are starting to adjust problems, like how do you build a grid to deal with that? And for companies like ours. How do you use technology to optimise when you dispatch it and how you deliver the power when it’s needed most, etc., from batteries or from peaking plants, those types of things and these types of challenges will become global challenges. Because, you know, my very strong view is that the world will move to a renewable system over time. And so the UK is developing skills that actually which could become exportable over time. We become very good at managing a dispatchable system which requires both intermittent renewables but also flexible generation, batteries, etc., to support it as we become the world’s leaders in that, that’s absolutely something that we should exploit. And so I think, again, building that system is something that should give the UK over time significant industrial advantage. And that’s what we’re working on here.

Iain: Well thank you very much Will. That’s great.

And if you want to find out more, head to Electric Insights for all the latest.

Britain’s solar boom needs energy storage to tackle evening price spikes, new report finds

News

Britain’s rapid growth in solar power is helping cut emissions from the electricity system, but a lack of storage is leaving the grid increasingly exposed to higher prices and periods of tight supply, according to the latest Drax Electric Insights quarterly report authored by independent academics from Imperial College London.

The report found that Britain’s power system can now operate with very high levels of low-carbon generation during periods of strong sunshine. Britain added 2 GW of solar capacity over the past year, and during April, solar generation reached a record 15.4 GW. This helped zero-carbon sources account for a record 98.8% of electricity supply for one half-hour period.

The installed capacity (top line) and peak power output (bottom line) of Britain’s solar panels. 

Strong solar generation reduces Britain’s reliance on gas during the day and helps meet demand for air conditioning during heat waves. The challenge comes later, as solar output falls sharply in the evening, just as electricity demand typically increases, leaving Britain reliant on gas-fired generation to fill the gap. In June, Britain’s wholesale electricity prices after 7pm rose to over double their level at 2pm.

June’s heatwaves exposed the pressures on the system. Wholesale electricity prices rose above £500/MWh, their highest ever recorded in the month of June, while NESO issued its first-ever summertime Electricity Margin Notice.

Heatwaves can put further pressure on the electricity system, as we have seen over the summer. Air conditioning and greater cooling load increases demand just as high temperatures reduce the efficiency of power lines and thermal plants. Calm, low-wind evenings can also add to the pressure, leaving grid operators with fewer sources of generation available to meet the required demand.

Dr Iain Staffell, lead author of the report and Associate Professor at Imperial College London, said:

“Britain’s solar success should not end when the sun goes down. Batteries, pumped hydro and other storage tech can keep that daytime electricity flowing into the evening, which will reduce our reliance on gas and exposure to foreign market price spikes.

“Every new solar panel strengthens the case for storage. We need to build the two together. Otherwise, we risk breaking clean-power records at lunchtime and paying for expensive gas-fired power by dinnertime.”

The Government’s Solar Roadmap aims to put solar panels on an extra 3 million homes, adding a further 10 GW by 2030. The report warns that this will need to be accompanied by investment in electricity storage, flexible infrastructure and other forms of reliable generation if the additional power is to be used effectively.

Will Gardiner, CEO, Drax said:

“There is a feeling that Britain has made real progress in decarbonising its power system and now has a real opportunity to turn some of its energy challenges into solutions that can strengthen energy security, support growth and deliver wider benefits. We need to continue the plan of rolling out homegrown renewables, because they are doing much of the heavy lifting, we are reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels, improving energy security, reducing emissions and lowering bills.

“The key challenge we have is we need to be faster and more joined up. At Drax we’re all about delivering resilient, reliable, renewable power today while investing in the flexible, low-carbon technologies that we need to effectively meet demand. This means looking beyond single technologies, it is a whole-system challenge, where renewable generation, dispatchable low-carbon power, storage and flexibility all need to work together.”

Read the full Electric Insights report here.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Kieran Wilson
E: [email protected]
T: 07729092807

About Drax

Drax’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Our strategic aims are to be a UK leader in flexible, renewable generation and a global leader in sustainable biomass pellet production.

Our operations

Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low-carbon and renewable UK power assets – biomass, hydro, pumped storage and OCGT generation – which provide dispatchable power and system support services to the electricity grid.

We are the UK’s largest source of renewable power by output, and Drax Power Station is the UK’s largest single source of renewable electricity by output.

Through our pellet production facilities in North America, Drax is a leading integrated producer of sustainable biomass.

Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK industrial and commercial customers, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.

Why flexibility has become the UK’s shock absorber

7 August 2026

Opinion

This article has been republished with permission from Enlit World.

Will Gardiner, Drax CEO

Britain’s electricity system has never stood still. Over the past century it has continually reinvented itself to meet the needs of the country it serves.

The first major tasks of energy transformation in the twentieth century included mass electrification and cleaning up power generation – driven by the formation of the National Grid in 1926, the phase out of coal, and the growth of renewable energy.

Today, three major pressures have converged including the continued growth of renewable energy, which is bringing greater intermittency into the electricity system, electricity demand is rising sharply as more sectors electrify and the grid is coming under greater strain as new technologies and infrastructure connect to the network.

These are creating a new defining test: building system flexibility that can respond to more variable supply, volatile demand, and a strained grid. Flexibility is not a nice-to-have. It is the system’s shock absorber.

Essential flexibility

Flexibility operates on both the supply and demand sides of the energy equation, in the form of storage, generation (dispatchable and renewable), smart energy management, and shifting workloads.

Achieving this depends on a range of technologies – including transmission infrastructure, flexible generation assets, long-duration energy storage and battery energy storage systems (BESS), and asset optimisation platforms that help manage electricity demand and supply in real time – each playing an important role in supporting a more resilient grid.

No single technology provides the answer. Together, they help balance intermittent renewable generation, maintain system reliability, improve resilience during periods of high demand and reduce overall system costs.

As energy requirements continue to evolve, flexibility has become just as important as generation itself in ensuring the UK can deliver a secure, reliable and lower-carbon electricity system.

Beyond energy

Getting flexibility right delivers benefits that extend well beyond the energy sector.

Recent geopolitical events – from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to renewed tensions in the Middle East – have highlighted how quickly international energy markets can become volatile. Energy security and national security are becoming increasingly difficult to separate.

Greater domestic generation and increased system flexibility can help reduce that exposure, improve overall system efficiency, support more stable long-term energy costs, encourage investment and job creation, and strengthen the UK’s industrial competitiveness.

Most importantly, it creates the platform for broader economic modernisation. A flexible and resilient electricity system will help enable the technologies, industries and businesses that will drive the UK’s next chapter of growth.

Powering innovation

Any discussion about the future of the UK’s electricity system quickly turns to artificial intelligence. The UK Government forecasts that the country will need at least 6GW of AI-capable data centre capacity by 2030, which is roughly three times more than today’s capacity.

Data centres’ energy needs constantly fluctuate – sometimes by hundreds of megawatts per minute. As workloads surge, pause and restart, the challenge cannot be met by more power alone, but also needs to account for how that power is managed dynamically.

AI will undoubtedly play an important role in shaping future electricity demand patterns, but it is only one part of a much broader picture.

Reliable electricity underpins almost every area of modern innovation. We often think about breakthroughs in healthcare, advanced manufacturing or artificial intelligence as separate stories. The reality is they are not.

They all have one thing in common: they depend on a resilient, flexible electricity system. From more effective cancer treatments and AI-enabled medical imaging to increasingly automated factories and the data centres powering the digital economy, electricity is what makes those innovations possible.

I’ve always considered energy the silent partner behind economic growth. It may not always be the focus of public attention, but it is fundamental to enabling innovation across every sector. However, flexibility is what will decide whether that partner can keep up.

Without a system that can respond to changing patterns of demand, many of those ambitions simply cannot happen at the same speed, or they come at greater cost.

This changing reality has shaped our own thinking. We’ve been evolving from a predominantly single-technology business into a provider of system flexibility.

Defining test

Today, we’re investing across open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs), BESS and renewable generation. Our recommended offer for Bluefield Solar Income Fund has the potential to add approximately 900MW of solar and wind generation. Combined with our other flexible generation assets, our portfolio could exceed 3GW of power capacity if our offer is accepted.

For me, that’s not simply about growing our portfolio. It’s about ensuring we’re investing in the dynamic capabilities the UK will need to power progress. This is where Drax can play a different role not just producing power but helping the system respond when it matters most.

The UK’s electricity system has continually adapted to meet new challenges over the past century, and effectively managing rising demand, intermittency, and more complex patterns of supply and demand will be no different.

That is why the next phase of our energy transition relies not simply on generating more renewable power, but ensuring we have the flexible infrastructure required to use it effectively.

Drax’s Biggest Deal Marks its Next Transformation

31 July 2026

Opinion

Will Gardiner, Drax CEO

For much of the last century, the key question was where electricity would come from. Now, the energy transition is entering a new phase. Increasingly, the question is not where the power would come from but how we can make the system work better.

Britain is seeing record levels of renewable and intermittent generation, growing electricity demand, increasing electrification and the emergence of AI-driven infrastructure that will require substantial new sources of power. At the same time, the system must remain secure, resilient and affordable. No single technology can deliver security, affordability and decarbonisation alone. The system needs renewables, flexible generation and storage working together. And we need to make the most effective use of every asset on the system.

There is a huge opportunity for the UK to unlock further investment in the energy infrastructure needed while supporting growth across the country. But making that opportunity a reality will require government and industry to work closely together to remove barriers to investment, speed up project delivery and accelerate reform of the grid and connection process. It also means making better use of existing infrastructure and connection capacity to meet rising demand and maintain UK competitiveness.

As Britain’s electricity network becomes more dynamic and decentralised, value increasingly comes from connecting technologies together and ensuring they operate efficiently.

Our ambition is to be at the forefront of that evolution.

Today marks an important milestone for Drax in our strategy to do just that, as we complete the acquisition of Bluefield Solar Income Fund.

The transaction adds around 900MW of operational solar and wind assets, alongside a 2.9GW development pipeline including joint ventures, making it the largest acquisition in our company’s history.

This acquisition is not just another addition to our portfolio; it’s about transforming our business to deliver what the UK energy system needs. I have seen Drax change profoundly over the last decade. Each time, the reason has been the same- Britains energy system has changed, and Drax has changed with it. When Drax Power Station was built, Britain needed reliable, dispatchable power to support economic growth and an expanding industrial economy. As climate change became an increasingly urgent challenge, we transformed Western Europe’s largest coal fired power station into Britain’s largest single source of renewable electricity, helping deliver a significant reduction in the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels while maintaining security of supply.

I am proud of Drax’s history, but I’m even more excited about what is coming next.

We are building a portfolio that combines biomass, hydro, pumped storage, battery storage, flexible gas generation, solar power, wind and market optimisation capabilities.

Today’s acquisition is a critical milestone in that strategy. It adds a substantial portfolio of operational solar and wind assets and a significant development pipeline, strengthening our renewable generation business at a time when the country needs more clean power. Combined with our existing flexible generation and battery portfolio, these assets strengthen our ability to support the electricity system during periods of both high renewable output and high demand.

With BESS and OCGT development sites included, our renewable generation business and flexible generation assets combined will have a power capacity of over 3GW – larger than Drax Power Station’s 2.6GW for the first time.

Earlier this year, we also completed the acquisition of Flexitricity, reflecting our belief that technology, optimisation and market participation will become increasingly important components of a successful energy business.

The thread running through this announcement is not just the acquisition of new assets, but that Drax is building a more diverse business built for what Britain needs.

Today’s acquisition helps us build the kind of company that can meet the challenge of energy security, affordability and sustainability. The opportunity ahead is not simply to generate more electricity, but to deliver more value from every megawatt. That is the future of energy — and it is where Drax intends to lead.

Drax completes ‘transformational’ £548 million acquisition of solar and wind assets

News

Drax Group plc is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of renewable energy company Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF). The deal is transformative for Drax, adding solar and wind assets to our generation portfolio for the first time.

The deal provides Drax with 0.9GW of operating and under construction solar and wind assets, as well as a gross development pipeline of 2.9GW which could be constructed across the next decade. When combined with Drax’s BESS and OCGT development sites, our renewable generation business and flexible generation assets will have a larger combined power capacity of over 3GW than Drax Power Station’s 2.6GW for the first time.

The acquisition will increase the role Drax plays in supporting the UK’s goals of strengthening energy security, keeping power affordable and accelerating decarbonisation. Drax expects the deal to be backed by strong cash generation from BSIF’s existing operational portfolio, disciplined capital investment and attractive returns for Drax shareholders.

Drax Group CEO, Will Gardiner, said: “This is a transformational moment for Drax. By adding solar and wind to our portfolio for the first time, we are broadening the role we can play in supporting the UK’s energy security and helping to decarbonise the power system.

“As demand for electricity grows, the UK will need more renewable power, alongside the flexible generation and system support needed to keep the grid secure. This acquisition strengthens our platform for growth and will help us deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

“We’re proud to have been at the heart of Britain’s energy system for sixty years, and we’re investing in and evolving our business now to ensure we continue to deliver what the country needs for decades to come.”

Demand for electricity in the UK is expected to grow significantly in the years ahead, driven by new technologies such as AI and data centres, as well as the electrification of transport and industry. Drax believes the addition of solar and wind assets will strengthen its ability to support UK energy security, help decarbonise the power system and create long-term value for the business.

ENDS

Notes to editors

On 1 June 2026, the boards of Bluefield Solar Income Fund and Drax announced that they had reached agreement on an all-cash acquisition of BSIF by Drax, subject to BSIF shareholder approval. Following shareholder approval and completion of the court hearing today, the acquisition has now been approved and is effective from 31 July 2026. 

Media contact

Aidan Kerr
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368

About Drax

Drax’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Our strategic aims are to be a UK leader in flexible, renewable generation and a global leader in sustainable biomass pellet production.

Our operations

Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low-carbon and renewable UK power assets – biomass, hydro, solar, wind, pumped storage and OCGT generation – which provide power and system support services to the electricity grid.

We are the UK’s largest source of renewable power by output, and Drax Power Station is the UK’s largest single source of renewable electricity by output.

Through our pellet production facilities in North America, Drax is a leading integrated producer of sustainable biomass.

Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK industrial and commercial customers, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.

Website: www.drax.com

Balancing the grid: why optimisation matters more than ever

15 June 2026

Opinion

As more wind and solar power come online, the energy system is becoming more complex to manage. Supply is less predictable, demand is changing, and the need to balance both in real time is greater than ever.

In this discussion, Ross McKenzie brings together Drax CEO Will Gardiner, Chief Commercial Officer Paul Sheffield and Flexitricity CEO Andy Lowe to explore how optimisation is helping to meet that challenge.

Together, they unpack what optimisation means in practice, why it matters now, and how it can make energy systems more flexible, resilient and cost effective.

Watch the video here: