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Mr Johnson, the Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had a tour of the power station and heard about how Drax upgraded two thirds of its generating units to use sustainable biomass instead of coal, to become the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe.

Around 60 per cent of the biomass used by Drax to produce enough renewable electricity for four million households, comes from the sustainable working forests of the US South – making it the biggest importer of US agricultural products.

Drax also operates three pellet plants in the US South, which produce biomass for the power station in North Yorkshire.

Mr Johnson met with Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner and Drax Power CEO Andy Koss to hear about the transformation of the power station and their plans for the future.

He heard about their plans for a Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage pilot project, due to get underway this autumn, which if successful, could enable the power produced at Drax to become carbon negative – making a vital contribution to efforts to tackle climate change.

They also outlined proposals to repower the two remaining coal units to use gas and develop up to 200MW of battery storage, as well as the proposed £702 million acquisition of some of Scottish Power’s flexible and renewable power generation assets, including pumped storage and hydro, which Drax announced recently.

Mr Johnson said:

“Being here at Drax has been fascinating – the scale of the place is incredible, and the innovative projects and new technology being trialled here are very exciting.  

“Drax makes a really important contribution to the US economy – I am pleased to be here to mark the important investment they make.”

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said:

“We are delighted to welcome the Ambassador to Drax Power Station to celebrate the successful transatlantic relationship between Drax and the US, which plays a vital role in enabling us to source the biomass needed to produce enough flexible, renewable power for millions of homes and businesses in the UK.

“We play a valuable role in the communities where we operate in the US, creating jobs and breathing new life into areas previously affected by industrial decline. Since the acquisition of a third pellet mill we now employ almost 250 people over there, with plans to grow our self-supply of biomass so we’re producing up to 30% of the pellets used at the power station.”

L-R: Drax Power CEO Andy Koss, Ambassador Johnson, Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner and Stan Phillips,
Agricultural Counselor

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO added:

“One of the biggest challenges we had when we converted two thirds of the power station to use biomass instead of coal, was in creating a completely new global supply chain for biomass.

“We invested around £700m in new infrastructure both here at the power station, but also in the pellet mills we own and the port facilities we use in the US – all of that has been vital to the success of the transformation of the business. We’re now the UK’s biggest renewable power producer, generating around 15% of the country’s renewable electricity.”

Drax contributed around £1.7bn in GDP to the UK economy and supported more than 18,500 jobs here in 2016. That included more than £500m to the Northern Powerhouse’s regional economy and support for 6,000 jobs here.

ENDS

Media contact:

Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 07837 946802

Notes to editors:

• Main photo L-R: Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner, Ambassador Johnson, Drax Power CEO Andy Koss and Stan Phillips, Agricultural Counselor
• Drax’s acquisition of Scottish Power’s generation assets is expected to complete at the end of the year, subject to shareholder approval.
• Drax recently converted the fourth of its six generating units from coal to use sustainable biomass – around 70% of the power produced at the power station is now renewable.
• It has plans to repower its two remaining coal generating units to use gas, which are being considered by the planning inspectorate. If approved, Drax could stop using coal well ahead of the government’s 2025 deadline.

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used. Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group includes:

Drax Power Ltd, which operates the largest power station in the UK, based at Selby, North Yorkshire and supplies six percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.

Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

Drax Biomass, is based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests, supplying fuel used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

“The UK has a great track record on greenhouse gas reduction, but this research from Aurora provides a clear indication of the environmental risks associated with us not maintaining a strong carbon price – in particular a resurgence in coal generation. It is important that the Treasury stands by the government’s commitments when setting the Budget, to ensure the UK continues to decarbonise cost-effectively and deliver the clean growth we need to meet our climate targets.”

View the research: Carbon Pricing Options to Deliver Clean Growth

“The north is ideally placed to take advantage of the opportunities a lower carbon economy creates for clean growth – playing a vital role in helping the UK and the world to meet its climate targets.

“Over a decade ago, Drax started its journey to phase out coal. We are now by far the biggest renewable power producer in the UK, having converted two-thirds of our generating units to use sustainable biomass instead of coal. We have also reskilled our colleagues to use a renewable fuel and play an active role in the low carbon transition.

“We’re exploring new carbon capture technologies which could enable us to further decarbonise and deliver negative carbon emissions – vital if we are to meet the climate challenge set out by the IPCC.

“We plan to complete the phase out of coal well ahead of the government’s 2025 deadline but we will still provide flexible, dependable electricity by repowering our remaining two coal units to use natural gas – providing highly efficient, flexible power when it is most needed.

“This will not only help support the power grid as it transitions to a low carbon system, it will also preserve the life of the plant and help protect jobs.”

View research: Risk or Reward? Securing a just transition in the North of England ippr North websiteon the

During the visit to C-Capture’s premises, Rachel Reeves MP heard how a Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) pilot project is expected to get underway at Drax Power Station this autumn, which will be the first of its kind in Europe.

The chemistry being used in the pilot project has been developed by C-Capture – a Leeds University spin-out. During her visit to the company’s facilities, Rachel Reeves, who is MP for Leeds West, got to see some of the equipment which will be installed at Drax Power Station for the pilot.

Rachel Reeves said:

“This BECCS project between C-Capture and Drax is ground-breaking. If it works, it could put Yorkshire and the UK at the forefront of the race to develop the BECCS technology which is essential to tackling climate change. It’s very exciting and I look forward to hearing more as the pilot progresses.”

BECCS is vital to global efforts to combat climate change because the technology will mean the gases that cause global warning can be removed from the atmosphere at the same time as electricity is produced. This means power generation would no longer contribute to climate change, but would start to reduce the carbon accumulating in the atmosphere.

Drax, the biggest power station in the UK, near Selby in North Yorkshire, is investing £400,000 in the BECCS pilot project with C-Capture. Since it converted two thirds of the power station to use biomass instead of coal it has become the biggest single site renewable power generator in the country and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said:

“This BECCS pilot has the potential to make the renewable electricity produced at Drax Power Station carbon negative. If we’re serious about meeting our climate targets, then negative emissions are a must – and BECCS is what’s going to get us there.”

Chris Rayner, founder of C-Capture and Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Leeds, added:

“During the six month pilot at Drax, we aim to use our chemistry to capture a tonne of carbon a day and in the process demonstrate that if the project was scaled up we could achieve one of the holy grails of CO₂ emissions strategies – negative emissions in power production. That’s where we believe the potential CO₂ emissions reductions are likely to be the greatest.”

C-Capture is a spin-out from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Leeds, established through funding from IP Group Plc.

ENDS

Media contacts

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Interim Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712670888

Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07712677177

Editor’s Notes

• Drax Power Station is the single largest user of sustainable biomass for power in the world – 65% of the electricity it produced in 2017 was renewable, enough to power four million households.
• Biomass, such as sustainably sourced compressed wood pellets, is a renewable fuel – the CO₂ captured when it grew is equal to the emissions it releases when used to generate electricity so it does not contribute new carbon to the biosphere. When coupled with CCS, the overall process of biomass electricity generation removes more CO₂ from the atmosphere than it releases.

• A report by the Energy Technology Institute in 2016 has suggested that by the 2050s BECCS could deliver roughly 55 million tonnes of net negative emissions a yearin the UK – approximately half the nation’s emissions target.

• The government’s Clean Growth Strategy identified ‘sustainable biomass power stations used in tandem with CCUS technology’ as a potential route to achieving long-term decarbonisation between now and 2050.
• C-Capture is a spin out from the Chemistry Department at Leeds University and has attracted support from IP Group, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund and the CO₂ Capture Project for CO₂ capture technology, which has potential in a range of areas including biogas upgrading, natural gas sweetening and hydrogen production. 

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used. Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group includes:

Drax Power Ltd, which operates the largest power station in the UK, based at Selby, North Yorkshire and supplies six percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.

Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.

Drax Biomass, is based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests, supplying fuel used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk