
Riverbend Elementary School awarded Drax ‘Classroom of the Month’

As part of this investment, Drax has selected Worley to begin the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work at the start of 2022 and may also work with the company on the subsequent design and build phases of the BECCS project, subject to contract. Drax will also commence site preparation works for BECCS across its North Yorkshire power station including relocation and decommissioning work to make space for the project.
Worley, a global provider of professional project and asset services delivers engineering, procurement and construction, as well as consulting services for the energy, chemicals and resources sectors around the world.
BECCS is seen as an essential technology to tackle climate change with the project at Drax set to capture and permanently lock away at least eight million tonnes of CO2 a year, exceeding the government’s ambition to deliver 5Mt of negative emissions from engineered removals each year by 2030 as outlined in the recently published Net Zero Strategy.
Drax is already the largest decarbonisation project in Europe, having converted its power station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal, reducing its emissions by more than 90%. By deploying BECCS technology, Drax will create and protect tens of thousands of jobs across the North, kickstart new green industries, and make the UK a global leader in negative emissions technologies.
Drax Group CEO, Will Gardiner
“Our investment in BECCS and the signing of this contract with Worley demonstrates Drax’s commitment to deliver a vital technology which is urgently needed to address the climate crisis. It’s no longer enough to reduce emissions – the world has got to start removing carbon from the atmosphere if we are to avert this climate crisis.
“The Government’s ambition for BECCS and its backing for the East Coast Cluster further demonstrates the vital role this negative emissions technology at Drax can play in helping the UK reach its net zero targets, as well as creating and protecting thousands of jobs and kickstarting a new green economy.”
Worley CEO, Chris Ashton
“As a global professional services company headquartered in Australia, we are pleased that Drax has engaged Worley in this important carbon capture project. Our partnership with Drax is one of the ways we’re helping our customers adapt existing assets and decarbonize industrial clusters, whilst also supporting Worley’s strategic focus on sustainability and delivering a more sustainable world.”
The announcement follows Drax’s decision in the Summer to partner with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group as its technology partner. As well as this the company outlined its ambition to source 80% of the construction materials and services from UK supply chain, meaning businesses could benefit from contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds, creating and protecting jobs across the North and levelling up the country.
With an effective negative emissions policy and investment framework from the government, BECCS could be deployed at Drax as soon as 2027 – delivering the UK’s largest carbon capture project and permanently removing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
Drax has already kickstarted the planning process to deploy BECCS at its power station in North Yorkshire – if successful, work could get underway to build BECCS at Drax as soon as 2024, with the creation of thousands of jobs.
How BECCS at Drax will work. Click to view/download.
An accompanying RNS to the London Stock Exchange can be read here: https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/DRX/investment-in-beccs-feed-study/15251148
ENDS
Ali Lewis
Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712 670 888
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
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.
Its 3,400 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/uk
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.
The Group has 13 operational pellet plants with nameplate capacity of c.4Mt, plus a further two plants currently commissioning and other developments/expansions which will increase this to c.5Mt once 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.
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
The team led a series of presentations adapted to suit the different age groups in the school with sessions including virtual tours of Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire and Drax’s hydroelectricity facilities in Scotland and an activity lesson where the children replicated the water filtration process that takes place at the Drax Daldowie energy from waste facility.
The children also received a visit from one of Daldowie’s technical apprentices Danielle Nicholson who talked about her role at the fuel plant and what skills are needed, to show the children some of the career options available in the energy sector.
“I really enjoyed learning about how the water is filtered and used to make renewable energy and the quiz was really fun.”
Luke (Primary 2) and Charlie (Primary 1)
“The children really enjoyed the workshop with Drax. Experiences like these are so important to get them excited about learning and bring the subject to life. The topic was particularly relevant with COP26 taking place just down the road too.”
The Drax Visitor Centre Team has been running virtual workshops in schools, colleges and universities local to the company’s operations ever since the start of the covid-19 pandemic to ensure that students didn’t miss out on the opportunities that the company would usually offer.
Boaz (Primary 1) and Maxwell (Primary 2)
“We’re committed to supporting education in the communities local to our operations. I hope that sessions such as these will help pupils better understand how energy is generated and inspire an interest in STEM subjects.”
Drax runs a number of initiatives to support STEM education including a virtual work experience programme, a STEM box project and virtual tours of the power station.
Top image caption: Emma (Primary 5) and Hannah (Primary 4)
ENDS
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
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.
Its 3,400 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/uk
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
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
Cruachan is an underground pumped hydro storage power station built in a hollowed-out cavern 1km inside Ben Cruachan – Argyll’s highest mountain. Constructed in 1965, its reversible turbines are still at the cutting edge of energy storage technology, enabling the plant to act like a giant water battery.
Its turbines pump water from Loch Awe to an upper reservoir on the mountainside to store excess power from the grid. The stored water is then released back through the turbines to generate power quickly and reliably when demand increases. This process helps stop wind farms being paid to turn off when they are generating excess power, helping Scotland to be greener whilst cutting household energy bills.
Enough wind power to supply a million homes went to waste in the UK in 2020 because there wasn’t enough capacity to ensure this excess renewable power was stored and made available when it was needed.
As part of the visit, Drax Group’s Head of Hydro, Mike Wynd, also outlined the company’s exciting work on plans to build a new second underground pumped hydro storage power station at the Cruachan complex.
“Cruachan plays a critical role in stabilising the electricity system, balancing supply and demand by storing excess power from the national grid. When Scotland’s wind turbines are generating more power than we need, Cruachan steps in to store the renewable electricity so it doesn’t go to waste.
“Drax has exciting plans to more than double Cruachan’s generating capacity, a project that will support new green jobs and help our homes and businesses go greener by bringing more renewable power onto the grid.”
“It was fascinating to learn more about how important this unique power station is in supporting the Scottish energy system and the critical role it plays in keeping the power grid safe and stable.
“This kind of flexibility and resilience helps to support the growth of renewables, enabling further decarbonisation of the energy system as we strive for net zero carbon emissions in Scotland by 2045.”
Drax acquired Cruachan alongside the Galloway and Lanark hydro schemes in 2019, helping to make the company a leading provider of flexible, renewable power generation.
When all four of its generating units are operating at maximum capacity, the plant can supply enough flexible power for around 800,000 homes.
ENDS
Aidan Kerr
Drax Group Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
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.
Its 3,400 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.
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
The £272,000 grant, from the Department for Education’s Strategic Development Fund, will allow the College to develop a brand-new training course in carbon capture and storage technologies, supporting Drax’s plans to develop the vital negative emission technology BECCS at its power station near Selby.
The course will start next year and will equip both current and future Drax employees with the vital skills needed to operate this critical negative emissions technology, ensuring the region is at the forefront of the green industrial revolution.
The programme will also be available to other organisations and individuals interested in developing their knowledge and understanding about carbon capture and storage. The course is being designed as an introduction to the subject, with the aim of adding more modules and units over time.
“Selby College is committed to supporting businesses and industries to develop specific training programmes that support their current and future workforce development. Our ongoing partnership with Drax has enabled us to secure this funding to create tailored education plans that will equip its workforce and supply chain with the skills needed as we transition into a zero-emission future.”
Bruce Heppenstall Drax Plant Director, Lewis Marron, Drax 4th Year Apprentice, and Liz Ridley Deputy Principal at Selby College.
“It’s critical businesses like Drax have access to a skilled workforce, with the knowledge and expertise to operate negative emissions technologies that will be vital in enabling the UK to reach its legally binding net zero targets. Through our partnership with Selby College, we are able to futureproof our workforce, ensuring we are at the forefront of the green industrial revolution, creating and protecting thousands of jobs here in the North.
“Deploying BECCS at Drax will not only deliver for the environment, but it will also deliver for the economy. It could kickstart a whole new sector of the economy and be the catalyst for a post-covid economic recovery.”
“It is fantastic to see Selby College working with Drax to offer people the skills they need to progress in green careers in their area.
“Offering people the chance to upskill in the latest in-demand technologies is vital to plug skills gaps in our economy, and ensure we have a workforce fit for the future.”
“Electricity generated by Drax using sustainable biomass is key to expanding the wider economy of Yorkshire and Humberside. The transition from coal to biomass demonstrated how businesses can transform and thrive as part of our new “net zero” economy.
To build on this leadership it is vital that businesses like Drax have the skilled workforce to operate the new green technologies and maintain their leading position. The ongoing partnership between Selby College and Drax will provide the essential facilities and courses for local people to develop their skills, and I look forward to seeing this partnership flourish and feed into the development of clean green industries across our region.”
Through its transition from using coal to sustainable biomass, Drax has safeguarded hundreds of jobs at its power station, as well as more than 6,600 across its supply chain in the North. It aims to go further by building BECCS, with the creation of more than ten thousand jobs at the project’s peak. Its first BECCS unit could be up and running in 2027, delivering the world’s biggest carbon capture project, permanently locking away millions of tonnes of CO2 each year.
The new CCS educational programme builds on a five-year, £180,000 partnership Drax announced with Selby College in 2020, which enabled the College to invest in ICT equipment to support remote learning, as well as state-of-the-art engineering equipment and a series of events on green energy.
ENDS
Drax Media Contact
Ben Wicks
Media Manager
[email protected]
07761 525662
Top image caption: (From L – R) Cameron Shipstone, Drax 4th Year Apprentice, Steve Butler Engineering Manager at Selby College, Liz Ridley Deputy Principal at Selby College, Bruce Heppenstall Drax Plant Director, Lewis Marron, Drax 4th Year Apprentice.
Selby College is a highly rated College in the heart of North Yorkshire, providing education and training opportunities for students aged 16 right up to 70+. Learners from all over Yorkshire and the Humber travel to Selby College because of its reputation for high-quality education.
Providing a wealth of courses and clear progression routes, Selby College offers A Levels, Vocational courses, Apprenticeships, Higher Education, Adult Learning and Professional Courses for Employers.
Established in 1984, the College today employs more than 200 teaching and support staff. Following a £35m investment in its state-of-the-art campus, Selby College boasts some of the most up-to-date facilities of any education provider in the area.
Selby College is also playing a leading role alongside other local institutions in the development of the Yorkshire & Humber Institute of Technology, which is one of twelve of its kind across the country designed to increase higher-level technical skills for employers. The College has also been selected by the Department of Education to deliver its brand-new T Level qualifications from September 2022, which are high-quality technical alternatives to A Levels.
For more information visit www.selby.ac.uk
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.
Its 3,400 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.
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
The donation to Whiteley’s Retreat in Alloway near Ayr, which offers holidays and short breaks to children suffering from terminal illnesses and Macmillan Cancer Support, was helped by the employees receiving a cash reward from Drax Group in recognition of their excellent safety record at work.
The teams donated the reward along with the proceeds from a clay pigeon shoot to the charities, with the total raised match funded by Drax.
“Health and safety is Drax’s number one priority and the teams at Galloway and Lanark have had an excellent safety record for 15 years across all of the sites within the hydro schemes. We wanted to acknowledge that with a reward.
“I’m really proud that the team used the reward to do something positive for the local community – continuing Drax’s long tradition of supporting the communities local to its operations.”
“Colleagues wanted to give back to local charities and get together after spending such a long-time social distancing and working from home due to covid restrictions. We thought an outdoor fundraising activity, such as a clay pigeon shoot would be a nice way to do some team building, whilst supporting charities close to the hearts of our team.
“The event coincided with us receiving the award for safe working, and everyone agreed we should donate the money to the charities. We hope it will make a difference and support the incredible work they do.”
“On behalf of the team at Whiteleys and the families we support, we would like to thank the staff at Drax, for their kind and generous donation to Whiteleys Retreat.
“What a great achievement and this kind donation will go towards Whiteleys continuing to be able to provide therapeutic short breaks and extended support for children, young people and their families with cancer and life altering illnesses in the UK.”
Drax is committed to supporting the communities local to its operations. It has invested more than £840,000 to support its customers and local communities since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
ENDS
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936350175
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.
Its 3,400 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/uk
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
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
Under the plans, a second underground power station will be built adjacent to the existing one to enable Cruachan to play an even bigger role in supporting the expansion of renewable energy sources such as wind power and provide lifeline stability services to the national grid.
Around 900 jobs will be created and indirectly supported during the new power station’s construction, providing a huge boost to communities around Loch Awe and across Argyll.
Cruachan’s reversible turbines balance the power grid.
Local people will have the opportunity to learn more about the proposals during two consultation exhibitions when members of the project team will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the planning process, design stages, works programme, construction and operation of the expansion to Cruachan:
“We are keen to hear from as many people as possible over the two days, so we encourage anyone living locally who can attend the exhibitions to come along. Cruachan has created and supported jobs in Argyll for more than 50 years and through our exciting expansion plans we will ensure the station remains at the heart of the community, as well as Scotland’s energy system, for many decades to come.
“The recent COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow underlined the need to invest in renewables to decarbonise our economy. In 2020 enough wind power to supply a million homes went to waste in the UK because there wasn’t enough capacity to ensure this excess renewable power was stored and made available when it was needed. By expanding Cruachan we will help to stop that from happening, by ensuring more renewable power is available to Scotland’s homes and businesses, when they need it, reducing costs whilst helping the planet.”
A further exhibition will be held in early 2022 prior to submission of a Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for their consideration. The submission is expected to be made in spring, with a decision from the government expected to be received in 2023.
The project requires a new financial stability support mechanism from the UK government to secure private investment in long-duration storage sites such as Cruachan. If this is developed and the planning application is approved, then work to build the new capacity at Cruachan could get underway in 2024, with the facility operational in 2030.
ENDS
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
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.
Its 3,400 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.
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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 20% 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.
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
Cruachan is an underground pumped hydro storage power station built inside a hollowed-out cavern 1km inside Ben Cruachan – Argyll’s highest mountain.
Its reversible turbines enable the plant to act like a giant water battery by pumping water from Loch Awe to an upper reservoir on the mountainside to store excess power from the grid. The stored water is then released back through the turbines to generate power quickly and reliably when demand increases.
This process helps stop wind farms being paid to turn off when they are generating excess power, helping Scotland to be greener whilst cutting household energy bills.
Earlier this year Drax published exciting plans to build a new underground pumped storage hydro power station at Cruachan – more than doubling the electricity generating capacity at the site.
Mr Turnbull is a board member of the International Hydropower Association and Co-Chair of the International Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower. During his time in office he announced the construction of Snowy Hydro 2.0, the biggest pumped hydro scheme in the southern hemisphere.
“Within the climate crisis the world is facing an ignored crisis – how to ensure that we do not fall back on fossil fuels when the wind isn’t blowing, and the sun isn’t shining. We need green energy security solutions. I commissioned the Snowy 2.0 Pumped Storage Hydro plant to prevent blackouts in Australia – the biggest such project in the southern hemisphere.
“It was fascinating to visit Drax’s Cruachan Power Station in Scotland. It reminds me that this is a tried and tested technology. With Drax’s expansion plans for the project it can also be modern and, with the right market focus on energy security and balance, affordable. The 5GW of such projects in the pipeline in Scotland are central to deliver a net zero energy system in the UK.”
“We were very happy to welcome Mr Turnbull to Cruachan so he can see how this iconic power station is playing a critical role in balancing Britain’s power system and enabling more renewables to come online.
“Our exciting plans to more than double the generating capacity of Cruachan underlines Drax’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis and supporting the energy system as it continues to decarbonise. Expanding Cruachan will unlock more renewable electricity to power homes and businesses across the country, and support hundreds of new jobs in rural Scotland.”
“No national electricity grid has been able to decarbonise without a significant element of hydropower. Projects like Cruachan demonstrate how easy it is to back-up our wind energy resources in the UK with other renewables. Gas is not the only storage option. As they say ‘water, wind and sun get the job done’. I hope to see other pumped storage come online in Scotland in the next decade.”
The expanded power station could be up and running as soon as 2030, subject to a successful planning application, with the project supporting around 900 jobs during construction.
The project will also require an updated policy and market support mechanism from the UK Government.
The existing lack of a framework for large-scale, long-duration storage means that private investment cannot currently be secured in new pumped storage hydro projects, with no new plants built anywhere in the UK since 1984 despite their critical role in decarbonisation.
ENDS
Aidan Kerr
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849 090 368
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.
Its 3,400 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.
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.
Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. 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.
Through its two B2B energy supply brands, Haven Power and Opus Energy, Drax supplies energy to 250,000 businesses across Britain.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner
“Urgent action has to be taken to address the climate crisis and we are pleased the UK government is demonstrating climate leadership in its ambitions to deliver policies which will attract the private sector investment needed for more green technologies to be deployed, including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
“With the right business model from the government, Drax is ready to invest £2bn in BECCS and could deliver the world’s largest carbon capture project here in the UK, permanently removing eight million of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by 2030. With sustainable biomass and BECCS we can kickstart a whole new sector of the economy, creating and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the North, as well as stimulating an export market and supporting the UK’s net zero target.
“We look forward to working with the government to ensure the most sustainable biomass feedstocks are used in our BECCS project.”