Tag: haven power

Responsibility, wellbeing and trust during the COVID-19 outbreak

Will Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer, Drax Group

25 March 2020

Opinion
Engineers in PPE working at Drax Power Station

We are living through unprecedented times. Coronavirus is having far reaching effects on all industries not just here in the UK, but around the world. At Drax, we take our responsibilities as a member of critical national infrastructure and as an essential service provider very seriously. We are committed to maintaining a continuous, stable and reliable electricity supply for millions of homes and businesses in the UK.

The wellbeing of our people

Firstly, I’d like to thank our employees, contractors, supply chain workers and their families as well as the communities in the UK and US in which we operate, for their fantastic support and continued hard work during these difficult and uncertain times. Our employees’ health and wellbeing are vital, and we’re working hard to ensure we are supporting them with both their physical and mental health, whether working at home or at one of our sites.

Engineer maintaining equipment in Drax Power Station

Engineer maintaining equipment in Drax Power Station [Click to view/download]

Across all our sites we are have implemented strategies to reduce the chances of people spreading the virus and have operational plans in place to ensure continued delivery of power into the grid.

Power station resilience

At Drax Power Station, the UK’s largest power station, largest decarbonisation project in Europe and biggest source of renewable power into the national grid, we have arranged for the separation of key operational teams and employees so that they are physically distanced from each other. We have moved as many employees as possible to work from home, so that there are fewer people in our workplaces reducing the risk of the spread of infection, should it arise. We have strict controls on visitors to the site and on our contractors and suppliers. Our resilience teams are working well and we have contingency plans in place to manage risks associated with colleague absences.

We have closed the visitor centres at Cruachan pumped storage hydro power station and Tongland hydro power station in Scotland, as well as at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. We have also stopped all but critically important travel between our sites.

Our supply chain

Sustainable biomass wood pellets destined for Drax Power Station unloaded from the Zheng Zhi bulk carrier at ABP Immingham [Click to view/download]

It is vital we maintain a resilient supply chain for the sustainably sourced biomass wood pellets required to produce electricity at Drax Power Station, the country’s largest power station. We’re working closely with our suppliers in the US and Europe to maintain biomass supplies as well as with rail and port infrastructure in the US and UK to ensure continuity of supply.

Just last week Associated British Ports (ABP) and Drax received and unloaded the largest ever shipment of sustainable biomass to arrive at the Port of Immingham in the UK’s Humber region. The vessel transported 63,907 tonnes of Drax’s wood pellets from the US Port of Greater Baton Rouge in Louisiana. The consignment supplies Drax Power Station with enough renewable fuel to generate electricity for 1.3 million homes.

Our three wood pellet manufacturing plants are running well, with US authorities classifying our employees as key workers. The same is the case for our rail freight partners on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, GB Railfreight recognises the strategic importance of biomass deliveries to Drax Power Station.

Our customers

Businesses – both large and small – are feeling the economic effects of this virus. Our employees involved with the supply of electricity, gas and energy services to organisations are working hard to support them. More information can be found via these links:

We are working closely with BEIS, HM Treasury and our trade associations to explore how government and industry can further support business through this challenging time. Organisations facing financial difficultly can access the unprecedented level of support already announced by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak via:

Drax employee in high visibility clothing on the telephone

Drax employee in high visibility clothing on the telephone [Click to view/download]

Leadership

Our Executive Committee is meeting regularly via video conference to discuss our contingency planning as the situation changes. We are working closely with the UK, US state and Canadian governments, National Grid and Ofgem to ensure that we remain up to date with the latest advice and that we are prepared for any further escalation.

This is an unprecedented time for the UK and the world. Rest assured that Drax’s critical national infrastructure and essential service operations, as well as its employees, are working hard 24/7 to make sure individuals, families, businesses and organisations are supplied with the vital electricity needed to keep the country running.

How getting renewable energy from your supplier actually works

2 April 2019

Sustainable bioenergy

Where does our electricity come from? One answer might be the power stations, wind turbines and solar panels that generate it. You might even go as far as to say the wind, sun, water, biomass and gas powering those stations. Or even the network companies transporting that power around the country. But there’s also a very important middle-man in this process: electricity suppliers.

Most of Great Britain gets its power from one of the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers, which buy electricity from the wholesale market and then sells it to consumers. However, with more businesses and consumers looking for less carbon-intense electricity sources, there are now a whole host of smaller companies taking on the incumbents and offering all-renewable electricity.

From Ovo to Bulb to Drax’s own Haven Power and Opus Energy, consumers and businesses have more and greener options than ever about where to buy their electricity, with many even offering 100% renewable electricity.

But how do these companies ensure the megawatts powering homes, offices and street lights come from renewable sources?

Cleaning up the river

The electricity we use doesn’t just flow through a single cable from a power station to our houses. It travels through what’s called the transmissions system, which is run by National Grid ESO and local distribution network operators.

Apart from off-grid installations like solar panels on buildings, some of which are unable to export their unused power, all the electricity generated by different sources around the country goes into this same system. It means megawatts generated by a wind turbine get mixed up with those generated by a nuclear reactor or a coal power station.

Think of it as a river. Although it is its own entity, it is fed by multiple streams of water coming from different sources. In the case of electricity, megawatts from various generators are fed into a central system, which then enter homes, offices and devices around the country.

So, what makes green power generated from renewable sources, green power used in homes?

Suppliers can’t control exactly what megawatts you use, but they can influence the makeup of the overall ‘river’ your electricity is pulled from by what electricity they agree to buy and offer to their customers.

Renewable suppliers match the amount of electricity their customers use with the amount they buy from renewable sources. So, if a home uses 4 megawatt-hours (MWh) a year, a supplier will need to ensure it buys an equal amount of power from National Grid, which National Grid sources from generators. If that supplier offers 100% renewable power, it will need to ensure it has the right kinds of deals in place with renewable generators to deliver that amount of power.

It means that while the river of electricity is still a mix from different streams, more of the water will come from renewable streams. Therefore, if more homes and businesses switch to renewable suppliers, more of the overall river will be renewable, which will in turn help to decarbonise the electricity system, enabling a lower-carbon economy.

But how does this fit into the existing electricity business and infrastructure?

But how do suppliers actually buy renewable power from generators?

The business of electricity

To understand how suppliers ensure they are buying renewable power you first need to understand how the business works. Or at least, how it used to. The most obvious place to start is with the generators.

Be they gas power stations or an offshore wind farm, the generator is where electricity is produced and are often owned by a supplier.

Suppliers can buy electricity from their own generators, often months or years ahead of delivery. But if there is a shortfall, the supplier can also buy electricity on the wholesale market, where other generators can sell their electricity.

Because suppliers are on a competitive market, their aim is to buy the electricity for the lowest possible price and sell it for more – but at a better rate than rivals. Measures like carbon prices or green incentives help lower the cost of renewable and low-carbon generation, and position it as a more economically viable purchase than more expensive fossil fuels like coal.

Renewable-only suppliers also want to buy electricity as cheap as possible and sell it as affordably as possible. But unlike standard suppliers they only buy electricity from renewable sources.

This can be done by purchasing electricity from independent renewable generators on the wholesale market, or arranged through what are known as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) – longer-term contracts between generators and suppliers agreeing on a specific amount of power.

The advantage of these for the renewable generator is it secures revenue for the future, while for the supplier it means a dependable source of electricity. For large installations, these deals are often signed before construction even begins to ensure investors there will be a return.

Transitioning to a low-carbon electricity system, however, is not just about suppliers buying more electricity from renewable sources.

The future of electricity suppliers

As more businesses, individuals and communities are becoming prosumers and generating their own electricity, the wider role of the supplier in the system is changing.

The government’s feed-in-tariffs financially reward customers for generating their own electricity, even if they don’t export it to the grid. But even small generators can sign deals with suppliers to sell electricity through schemes such as Good Energy’s SmartGen policy, which is open to generators with between 10 and 100 kilowatts (kW) of installed capacity. Similarly Opus Energy helps over 2,100 businesses sell more than 1,100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of excess wind, solar, anaerobic digestion and hydro power.

For larger prosumer businesses, the relationship with suppliers and the grid is different. Rather than the traditional buying and selling of electricity, it requires a cooperative approach to understand how the prosumer can best utilise their assets.

Beyond increasing the amount of low-carbon electricity, decarbonising the electricity system also means making more efficient use of energy and managing the data that can help improve efficiency. Haven Power’s partnership with Thames Water sees it analyse an average of 68 million half-hour smart meter readings every year, using the data to help the company improve its billing and forecasting. As the wider system becomes more intelligent, suppliers will be able to better forecast how much electricity its customers use and help them reduce their consumption.

The role required of suppliers in a changing system will create opportunities for more renewable and efficient use of electricity. And empower more consumers to get their electricity from low-carbon sources that can help to make the whole country’s electricity greener.

Want a different perspective on the same story? Watch TV’s Jonny Ball explain.

Customer service excellence

21 March 2018

Sustainable business

Our B2B Energy Supply business offers personal account management to our large corporate customers and our employees strive to support customers at every step. We aim to treat customers fairly at all times and commit to being professional, honest and transparent in our interactions.

Both Haven Power and Opus Energy have strict standards, outlined publicly in their respective “treating customers fairly” policies. The statements explain how we communicate with customers, transfer their supply, deal with billing and payment and how we handle complaints. Opus Energy publishes an additional performance standard confirming its commitment to customers. Employees receive regular training on providing a high level of customer service.

When things do go wrong, we are quick to make amends and resolve issues efficiently. We have publicly available complaints procedures and make it clear who to contact. At Opus Energy, complaints are overseen by the Customer Experience Board.

We are proud of the recognition both Haven Power and Opus Energy received for their dedication to customer service in 2017. Haven Power was shortlisted for “Supplier of the Year” at the Energy Awards 2017 and named the UK’s best performing energy supplier by Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs) in this year’s Cornwall Insight Report. Opus Energy won “Utilities Provider of the Year” at the British Small Business Awards 2017 and was shortlisted in the National Business Awards 2017.

Protecting customer security and privacy

We take the privacy and security of our customers’ data seriously. We are committed to maintaining effective and sustainable privacy and security programmes dedicated to ensuring our customers have confidence in our data handling practices.

As part of our commitment in this area, we appointed a Group Data Protection Officer to enhance our privacy compliance. We are in the process of updating our Privacy Compliance Programme to take account of new requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enforceable in May 2018, and other associated new data protection legislation.

To support our privacy compliance process and organisation policies, we undertook an extensive technical Security Improvement Programme. We implemented industry-leading control measures to protect our customer and employee data by detecting and preventing threats and security breaches.

Programme initiatives included information protection, using protection technology to automatically detect personally identifiable information and protect it from unauthorised access and disclosure. In addition, advanced threat monitoring and analytics measures implemented mean we have layered toolsets designed to detect, identify, respond to and resolve cyber threats and attacks before they can happen.

Providing customers with great value and good ethics

Founded in 1860, Salisbury Museum is located in a Grade I listed building opposite Salisbury Cathedral. As a charitable, not-for-profit organisation, the museum relies on entry fees, grants, donations and the support of its members to continue its vital work. Finding a business energy supplier that offered the best prices on the market, as well as the right length of contract and good ethics, was important for the museum.

SMEs are a key part of Opus Energy’s business and they know that a business energy service that is as smooth and efficient as possible is a top priority.

Nicola Kilgour-Croft, Finance Manager at Salisbury Museum, commented:

“The switching process went through really smoothly, and the facility to receive invoices via email means I don’t need to spend time on the phone trying to sort out payment. Having 12-month contracts really works for us.

“We were looking for a business energy supplier that offered great value, combined with the right length of contract and good ethics – and Opus Energy ticked all these boxes for us.”

 

Restoring Brickmakers’ Wood

Sustainable business

The Eden-Rose Coppice Trust is a woodland network that transforms urban environmental disasters into beautiful, natural high-biodiversity woodland settings for people living with a terminal illness. Haven Power has been supporting the Trust’s ambitious Brickmakers’ Wood project in Ipswich since April 2016.

Brickmakers’ Wood is a three-and-a-half-acre site that is being transformed into a peaceful space for cancer patients, disadvantaged children and people with mental or physical health problems and learning difficulties. Throughout 2017, up to 12 Haven Power employees spent time volunteering at the project each month. Volunteers contributed to the restoration of the site and relished getting their hands dirty; clearing rubbish and dense overgrowth, building new structures, creating an allotment and planting wild flowers.

Without Haven Power’s contribution, the charity founders would have had to undertake most of the work at Brickmakers’ Wood themselves. In their words: “The continual volunteering has transformed the project, so we are now two to three years ahead of where we would have been otherwise.”

The site is being transformed into a town centre oasis and has already been put to good use. The charity has run skills workshops for 12-16 year olds who have been excluded from school, encouraging them to learn about woodcraft and how to run a business.

How Drax is boosting jobs and the economy throughout the UK

17 October 2017

Sustainable business

Whether powering homes across Britain or helping stabilise the national grid, Drax Power Station’s impact to our electricity network is far reaching. But it doesn’t stop at generating and supplying power.

A new report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by Drax, has found that in addition to its important role powering Britain, Drax Group also provides an economic boost to areas across the country.

Here are three ways Drax Group contributed to the UK economy in 2016. 

£1.67 billion added to UK GDP

Drax Group contributed an estimated £1.67 billion to UK gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, an increase from £1.24 billion in 2015. Of that figure, £301 million was added directly – as a result of the group’s own activities such as the generating and selling of power.

And while this is an impressive 6.1% increase on 2015, the numbers are even more significant when looking at the benefit beyond the group’s core activities.

In 2016, Drax Group’s spending with external suppliers such as rail freight wagon manufacturer WH Davis and IMServ, which supplies Automated Meter Reading technology to Opus Energy, reached £872 million. A further £36m was spent by these suppliers across their own supply chain to help them provide their services to Drax.

There is an even greater impact when considering how this money filters through employees and suppliers into local retail, leisure and service economies. Something which is especially important when the number of jobs Drax supports is taken into account.

18,500 jobs supported across the country

Drax Group directly employed more than 2,000 people in 2016, but across the country it supports far more – 18,500, a significant increase from the 14,150 of 2015.

These jobs are primarily in high-skilled manufacturing, engineering, construction, IT, professional business services and transport. While 3,650 of these were in Drax Power Station’s native Yorkshire and Humber area, this year saw the group’s overall impact extend much further. 

Opus Energy employees holding meeting in Northampton, 2019

 An impact beyond the ‘Northern Powerhouse’

Roughly a quarter (£419 million) of Drax’s total contribution to UK GDP was generated in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. When the North West and North East were included, the company impacted the northern economy to the tune of £577m and supported over 6,000 jobs.

Yorkshire and the Humber was closely followed by the East of England, the home of Haven Power, which saw the second highest impact – registering more than £200 million contributed in GVA – and London and the East Midlands.

This is thanks in part to the growing activities of Drax Group companies. Both Haven Power and Opus Energy (which became a part of Drax Group in February 2017), are helping the UK move towards a low carbon future by supplying an increasing amount of British companies with renewable power. With offices in Ipswich, Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, Haven Power and Opus Energy highlight how Drax Group businesses are direct drivers for local GDP and employment. Opus Energy supported 1,600 jobs and £130 million in GVA in Wales, while Haven Power contributed £232 million to the East of England.

These numbers are noteworthy, but what makes them all the more significant is how this translates into tax revenue. Operations at Drax Group generated an estimated £327 million for the UK’s public purse – equivalent to the salaries of almost 14,000 nurses or 11,900 teachers.

As the group continues to grow – adding new power generation assets to the national electricity transmission system and helping more businesses use renewable power – Drax can increase its positive impact on the UK’s economy and help to make the country’s low-carbon future a reality more quickly.

To find out more about how Drax has benefited the UK’s economy, visit draximpact.co.uk. The full 2016 report can be downloaded here. Interested in a career at Drax Group? Please visit Careers to find out more.

This is how smart meters will change how you use power

5 January 2017

Electrification
An on button glowing neon blue.

Homes in the UK rely on energy almost 24 hours a day. Whether powering your computer, boiling your kettle or heating your home, electricity and heating fuels are absolutely integral parts of modern life. The same is the case with businesses and transport.

But how the gas and electricity we use to power our lives is tracked, recorded and fed back to utility companies is changing. It could mean lower bills and a more stable energy network and it’s all thanks to a small, inconspicuous box called a smart meter.

What is a smart meter?

Between now and 2020, every household and business in the UK will be offered smart meters for both electricity and, where they are on the network, gas too. A smart meter is a device that tracks your energy use in real-time and then automatically feeds this information back to your energy provider.

Better yet, in the UK they’ll be coupled with an in-home display showing what you’re using and how much it’s costing. It’s a simple piece of technology that can have a serious impact on how you use energy and how much you pay for it.

Will smart meters help reduce my energy bills?

The crucial difference a smart meter will make to household bills is seeing off estimated bills. In the past, utility companies would either ask you to take a reading from your meter, or send a representative to your home or office to get one. When they’ve not been able to do this, utility companies estimate your usage within a certain time frame and create a bill based on that.

With smart meters, the automatically-delivered details will mean utility companies have up-to-the-minute accuracy on customers’ energy usage. No more estimated bills. No more searching for your awkwardly-placed meter. No more unannounced meter readers arriving at your door.

A Haven Power smart meter in use.

Will smart meters change how I use electricity?

More than just improving accuracy and saving time, smart meters can help you use energy in a … smarter way.

They can pinpoint power-heavy home appliances as well as the times of day when you are using the most energy. With this information, you can optimise your usage to find where there are cost saving opportunities.

The data collected by your smart meter might show that you use most electricity in the evening when power demand is at its highest. Based on this you can change your habits to make the most of off-peak times and potentially lower tariffs, for example charging your battery-based appliances overnight.

Are smart meters good for the UK?

More accurate information is not only a benefit to home and business owners – the country as a whole could end up in a better place, too.

Armed with accurate numbers on how and when the country uses power, the National Grid, which manages the gas and high voltage electricity network, and Elexon, which manages the balancing market for electricity, will be able to better predict energy supply. If they track that electricity is being used at a certain time of day they can ensure generation by UK power stations like Drax, the UK’s biggest, is planned to match it. The aim is a more stable and efficient grid.

Utility companies could also use this data to create peak and off-peak times with different tariffs, opening the door for further cost savings and the smarter use of electricity nationwide. Coupled with the new market in battery technology such as the PowerVault and Tesla’s PowerWall 2, households and businesses will also be able to take even greater advantage of off-peak tariffs.

How can I get a smart meter?

Your electricity or heat supplier may install it for you, depending on the deal or package you are on. Contact them to find out what options are available.

Drax’s own electricity supplier, Haven Power, is currently investing in technology to allow it to use the new national smart metering infrastructure. It will begin rolling out smart meters to its customers during 2017 and will offer them to all of the businesses that purchase electricity from Haven Power by 2020.

Billington Bioenergy, Drax’s supplier of compressed wood pellets for heat, has installed smart meters – known as fuel level measurement systems – across various industries such as Care Home sector and Schools and projects that a third of its bulk-blown pellet customers will have them installed by 2020.