Archives: Press Release

Drax submits application to develop Repower project

30 May 2018

Press releases

Drax Power Station has submitted an application to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order (DCO) for its Repower gas generation and battery storage project.

Plans to replace Drax’s two remaining coal generating units with up to 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of high efficiency gas-fired power generation and up to 200 megawatts (MW) of battery storage were first set out in September 2017.

Since then the company has been developing engineering and environmental reports for the application, as well as carrying out an extensive consultation programme with local people, landowners and councils.

The Planning Inspectorate has 28 days to determine if it will accept the application. If accepted, the proposals will be examined by the Planning Inspectorate and then considered by the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with a decision expected in 2019.

By upgrading its existing infrastructure to use gas Drax will be able to provide more capacity, stability and essential grid services keeping costs low and delivering the government’s commitment to end power generation with unabated coal by 2025.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said:

“With our gas Repower plans and the conversion of a fourth generating unit this summer to use biomass instead of coal, we intend to extend the life of the plant, protect jobs and deliver the flexible and reliable power millions of households and businesses need.

“Working with the communities local to the power station has been an integral part of the process. The Repower project could secure the future of the power station beyond 2025 when the government says coal must come off the system.”

Drax is already the UK’s largest single site renewable power generator having converted three coal generating units to use sustainable wood pellets, with the fourth set for this summer. More than two thirds of the power produced is now renewable, providing 15% of the UK’s renewable electricity – enough for four million homes.

ENDS

 

Media contacts

Ali Lewis

Drax Group Head of News

E: [email protected]

T: 07712670888

 

Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 0203 9434305

 

Editor’s Notes

The planning process for the DCO is as follows:

  • The Planning Inspectorate has 28 days to decide whether to accept Drax’s application for examination.
  • If it is accepted for examination, Drax will notify local authorities, landowners and other statutory consultees and they will receive a copy of the accepted application documents.
  • In addition, a notice will be published at or near the Repower site and in relevant newspapers to publicise the accepted application. This notice will provide information to local people on where they can review the application and how and when they can make representations to the Planning Inspectorate.
  • Anyone who makes a representation can register to become an ‘Interested Party’ once the examination process starts.
  • If the application is accepted, the Planning Inspectorate will appoint an independent inspector known as an ‘Examining Authority’ to oversee the examination of the application, a process that is likely to start in the autumn.
  • A preliminary meeting with Interested Parties, Drax and the Examining Authority will be held to coincide with the start of the examination process. Interested parties will be given at least 21 days’ notice of the meeting. At this meeting, the Examining Authority will inform Drax and Interested Parties of the examination procedure and schedule going forward.
  • The post-application and examination processes, including the formal notification of the accepted application and the consultation on the Application documents (undertaken in accordance with Section 56 of the Planning Act 2008), are defined by relevant regulations and the Planning Inspectorate.

Anyone with questions about the process can contact Drax Repower team via email at [email protected] or by calling the Freephone number: 0800 731 8250 or by writing to them at FREEPOST DRAX REPOWER.

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 7 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

Application for Development Consent Order submitted to the Planning Inspectorate

29 May 2018

Press releases

Upon receipt of APL’s application, the Planning Inspectorate has 28 days to decide whether to accept it for examination.

If the application is accepted for examination, APL will formally notify City & County of Swansea Council, the community councils in the near vicinity of the site south of Felindre, local landowners and other statutory consultees. These stakeholders will receive a copy of the accepted application documents.

In addition, a notice will be published at or near the site and in local newspapers to publicise the accepted application and to provide information to local people on where they can review the application and how and when they can make representations to the Planning Inspectorate.

If the application is accepted, the Planning Inspectorate will appoint an independent inspector known as an Examining Authority to oversee the examination of the application, a process that is likely to start in the autumn. Anyone who makes a representation can register to become an Interested Party once the examination starts.

A “preliminary” meeting with Interested Parties, Drax and the Examining Authority will be held to coincide with the start of the examination process; this meeting will be held locally and interested parties will be given at least 21 days’ notice of the meeting. At this meeting, the Examining Authority will inform Drax and Interested Parties of the examination procedure and schedule going forward.

The post-application and examination processes, including the formal notification of the accepted application and the consultation on the Application documents (undertaken in accordance with Section 56 of the Planning Act 2008), are defined by relevant regulations and the Planning Inspectorate.

Government Carbon Capture and Storage Team visits Drax Power Station

25 May 2018

Press releases

A group of senior policymakers and government officials has visited Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, to learn more about the UK’s largest power station and its plans to pilot new carbon capture technology.

The delegation from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spent the day with the Research and Innovation Team at Drax and also met with Drax Power CEO Andy Koss, to learn more about its Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) pilot – the first of its kind in Europe.

If successful, the project could make the renewable electricity produced at Drax Power Station carbon negative.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said:

“This project is the next step in our journey to extend the future of the plant, protect jobs and deliver clean, reliable power for millions of households and businesses.

“With our extensive engineering skill and expertise, we have already upgraded half of the power station from coal to use biomass, transforming the business to become the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

“If successful, this BECCS technology could enable us to achieve negative emissions on the biomass generating units at the power station and also help the UK to meet its global climate change targets.”

The demonstration project will see Drax partner with Leeds-based C-Capture and invest £400,000 in what could be the first of several pilot projects undertaken at Drax Power Station to deliver a rapid, lower cost demonstration of BECCS.

Drax plans to convert a fourth generating unit from coal to biomass this summer and is also progressing plans for repowering its two remaining coal units with gas power generation and batteries.

Pictured are: Steve Drayton, Deputy head of Research and Innovation, Drax; Carl Clayton, Research and Innovation engineer, Drax; Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO; Mark Taylor, Deputy Director for Programme Delivery, BEIS; Matthew Billson, Head of Strategy, BEIS; Mark Kilcullen, Head of Industry and CCS, BEIS; Solmaz Parsa, Engineer/Technical Project Manager, BEIS; Peter Coleman, Science Team, BEIS; Nick Bevan, lead for gas/coal generation/CCS/CHP, BEIS.

ENDS

Media contact

Ali Lewis

Drax Group Head of Media Relations

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612165

Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612848

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 7 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

Drax to pilot Europe’s first carbon capture storage project

20 May 2018

Press releases
Drax carbon capture and storage pilot project

Drax has announced that it is to pilot the first bioenergy carbon capture storage (BECCS) project of its kind in Europe, which, if successful, could make the renewable electricity produced at its North Yorkshire power station carbon negative.

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.

The demonstration project will see Drax partner with Leeds-based C-Capture and invest £400,000 in what could be the first of several pilot projects undertaken at Drax to deliver a rapid, lower cost demonstration of BECCS.

Drax Power Station became the largest decarbonisation project in Europe by upgrading its existing facilities and, if the pilot is successful, it will examine options for a similar re-purposing of existing infrastructure to deliver more carbon savings.

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 year in the UK – approximately half the nation’s emissions target.

L-R: Jason Shipstone, Head of R&D, Drax Group; Caspar Schoolderman, Director of Engineering, C-Capture Ltd; Andy Koss, CEO Drax Power; Prof Christopher Rayner, Technical Director, C-Capture Ltd; Carl Clayton, Research and Innovation Engineer, Drax Group.

L-R: Jason Shipstone, Head of R&D, Drax Group; Caspar Schoolderman, Director of Engineering, C-Capture Ltd; Andy Koss, CEO Drax Power; Prof Christopher Rayner, Technical Director, C-Capture Ltd; Carl Clayton, Research and Innovation Engineer, Drax Group. Download high res photo.

The first phase of the project, starting this month, will look to see if the solvent C-Capture has developed is compatible with the biomass flue gas at Drax Power Station. A lab-scale study into the feasibility of re-utilising the flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) absorbers at the power station will also be carried out to assess potential capture rates.

FGD equipment is vital for reducing sulphur emissions from coal, but has become redundant on three of the generating units at Drax that have been upgraded to use biomass, because the wood pellets used produce minimal levels of sulphur.

Depending on the outcome of a feasibility study, the C-Capture team will proceed to the second phase of the pilot in the autumn, when a demonstration unit will be installed to isolate the carbon dioxide produced by the biomass combustion.

Will Gardiner, CEO, Drax Group, said:

“If the world is to achieve the targets agreed in Paris and pursue a cleaner future, negative emissions are a must – and BECCS is a leading technology to help achieve it.

“This pilot is the UK’s first step, but it won’t be the only one at Drax. We will soon have four operational biomass units, which provide us with a great opportunity to test different technologies that could allow Drax, the country and the world, to deliver negative emissions and start to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Unlike previous CCS projects Drax has been involved with, this is an early pilot for a new technology. It will examine the potential of a new form of carbon capture, post combustion on biomass, rather than coal.

The government’s Clean Growth Strategy identified BECCS as one of several greenhouse gas removal technologies that could remove emissions from the atmosphere and help achieve long term decarbonisation.

Claire Perry, Energy & Clean Growth Minister, said:

“We aim to make the UK a world leader in carbon capture usage and storage, a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy. It’s hugely exciting that Drax has chosen to invest in this innovative project, demonstrating how government support for innovation can create an environment where companies can develop new technologies and scale up investment to build the sectors we will need to achieve long term decarbonisation.”

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

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

“We have developed fundamentally new chemistry to capture CO2 and have shown that it should be suitable for capturing the carbon produced from bioenergy processes.

“The key part is now to move it from our own facilities and into the real world at Drax. Through the pilot scheme we aim to demonstrate that the technology we’ve developed is a cost-effective way to achieve one of the holy grails of CO2 emissions strategies – negative emissions in power production, which is where we believe the potential CO2 emissions reductions are likely to be the greatest.”

Andy Duley, Director of Commercialisation at the University of Leeds, said:

“The University has an established track record in working with private sector investors and leveraging its own funds to launch successful spin out companies. C-Capture is the latest example of our continued success in converting research expertise into a valuable service which directly benefits industry, and has the potential to make an impact around the world.”

ENDS

Media contacts

Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of News
E: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)1757 612165		 Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
E: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)7712 677177

Animation:

vimeo.com/draxgroup/beccs

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.
  • 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 seven per cent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fueled 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

About C-Capture

C-Capture Ltd utilise their extensive knowledge of CO2 (carbon dioxide) based chemistry and engineering, to develop solvent systems for the removal of CO2 from gas streams with the potential to capture the CO2 in a form suitable for storage, and prevent it from entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

C-Capture‘s proprietary technology aims to remove or ‘scrub’ CO2 from large scale point sources of gas emissions. This is important for a broad range of commercially and environmentally relevant areas.

The low cost, high energy efficiency of C-Capture’s solvents help minimise the cost of CCS implementation and makes electricity generation with CCS a much more affordable, environmentally beneficial process.

C-Capture Ltd is a spin-out company from the Chemistry Department at the University of Leeds, 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 development of CO2 capture technology, which has potential in a range of areas, including biogas upgrading, natural gas sweetening and hydrogen production. It was also the National Winner of Shell Springboard 2016, competition for low carbon businesses.

For more information visit www.c-capture.co.uk

About the University of Leeds

The University of Leeds has created more than 100 spin-out companies, with a market capitalisation in excess of £500 million. Seven of these spin-out companies are market listed on AIM, which is more than any other university in the UK. The University is also home to the EPSRC funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Bioenergy, and has extensive experience in energy research through the interdisciplinary Energy Leeds initiative.

The University is preparing to launch its £40m Nexus innovation and enterprise centre later this year. Nexus will provide business and industry with easy access to world-leading academic experts and their ground-breaking research, high quality facilities and cutting edge equipment at the University.

For more information visit www.leeds.ac.uk

‘Beast from the East’ exposes reliance on French interconnector

22 April 2018

Press releases

The ‘Beast from the East’ exposed the country’s undue reliance on the biggest electricity interconnector with Europe, a new report shows. Despite Great Britain’s power demand surging as temperatures plummeted, the interconnector actually exported power to France on two of the coldest days – 28th February and 1st March.

The six days from February 26 to March 3 were the third coldest experienced this century. These freezing temperatures pushed up power demand 10 per cent as consumers and industry used more electric heating to keep warm.

In response to increasing demand and more limited supply, wholesale power prices surged five times the average for the quarter, peaking at £990 per MWh as the market became volatile.

However, despite surging demand and higher prices, Great Britain’s interconnector exported power to Europe on two of the six coldest days as prices on the continent rose even higher than the UK to meet increasing demand from French consumers, who use more electricity for heating than in the UK.

Great Britain’s’s interconnector with France can demand up to 2GW of the country’s demand – around 4 per cent. It represents 50 per cent of the UK’s interconnector capacity, with the remainder accounted for by transmission between the UK and the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Drax Electric Insights report into the cold snap, published by researchers at Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax, also showed:

  • Biomass and hydro ran solidly throughout the cold spell.  Wind output was particularly high when it was most needed, ranging from 11.8 to 13.8 GW during March 1st.
  • Coal generation surged for the weeks surrounding the cold spell, not because more output from conventional plants was needed, but rising gas prices made it more economical to burn coal than fire-up additional gas capacity.

Dr Iain Staffell of Imperial College London, who co-authored the report, said:

“March 1 was the coldest spring day on record, averaging -3.8ºC. These plunging temperatures put stress on the system due to surging demand. While thermal and renewable generation worked together to meet demand, Britain’s electricity link to France was less than helpful, which, ultimately, drove up wholesale power prices.”

Andy Koss, CEO of Drax Power, said:

“While the European interconnector is an an important part of Great Britain’s electricity infrastructure, it responds solely to price. Therefore, if Europe has a cold snap, the country is at the end of the line, leaving consumers vulnerable to security of supply and higher prices.

“As the country looks to procure future electricity capacity, the ‘Beast from the East’ is a reminder that security of supply must be the priority so that Great Britain doesn’t catch a cold when Europe sneezes.”

Drax has upgraded half of its power station in North Yorkshire from coal to use sustainable biomass, with plans to convert a further generating unit this year. It is now the biggest single site renewable generator in the country and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

Explore this data live on the Electric Insights website:

https://www.drax.com/uk/beast-data

Read the report:

https://www.drax.com/uk/energy-policy/the-beast-from-the-east

ENDS

Media contacts

Ali Lewis

Drax Group Head of News

E: [email protected]

T:01757 612165

 Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 07712 677177

About Electric Insights

  • Electric Insights Quarterly was commissioned by Drax and is delivered independently by a team of academics from Imperial College London, facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants. The report analyses raw data that are made publicly available by National Grid and Elexon, which run the electricity and balancing market respectively. Released four times a year, it will focus on supply and demand, prices, emissions, the performance of the various generation technologies and the network that connects them.
  • Along with Dr Iain Staffell, the team from Imperial included Professors Richard Green and Tim Green, experts in energy economics and electrical engineering, and Dr Rob Gross who contributed expertise in energy policy. The work to date has revealed scope for further research in this area, to inform both government and organisations within the energy industry.
  • The quarterly reports are backed by an interactive website electricinsights.co.uk which provides live data from 2009 until the present.

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used for a better future. 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 seven per cent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fueled 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

UK’s biggest power station signs up to Powering Past Coal Alliance

9 April 2018

Press releases

The company, which has already upgraded half of its power station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable wood pellets instead of coal, has signed up to the UK-Canadian initiative which seeks to end the use of coal by 2030 in developed countries.

The company’s involvement in the initiative was announced by the Rt Hon Claire Perry MP, UK Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, on Monday April 9 at the Bloomberg Future of Energy Summit in New York.

Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, Claire Perry, said:

“The UK leads the world in tackling climate change – we have reduced emissions by more than 40% since 1990. By phasing out traditional coal power, we are not only taking active steps to tackle climate change, we are also protecting the air we breathe by reducing harmful pollution. The Powering Past Coal Alliance sends a clear signal that the time for unabated coal fired electricity has well and truly passed.”

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said:

“Unabated coal does not have a long term role to play in our low carbon future. The government made it very clear earlier this year that it wants the UK’s power sector to be coal free in 2025 – and we will achieve that, and possibly even beat it.

“We’re exploring options for repowering our remaining coal units to use sustainable biomass and gas which we believe could help us to become coal free even earlier than the 2025 deadline.”

In the UK there has already been a dramatic fall in power generation from coal – an 84% reduction in the last five years, and a major shift towards lower carbon technologies. Friday (April 6 2018) saw Great Britain have its second coal-free 24-hour period since 1882.

Drax Power Station has transformed itself to become the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is the largest single site renewable power generator in the UK since it started using biomass instead of coal in three out of its six generating units. 65% of the power it produces is now renewable – enough for four million households.

It will convert a fourth generating unit from coal to biomass later this year using a low cost solution developed by its world class engineers.

This will leave just two remaining coal generating units which it plans to replace with up to 3.6GW of gas power as well as 200MW of battery storage.

ENDS

Media contact

Ali Lewis

Drax Group Head of Media Relations

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612165

Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612848

Notes to editors

  • The UK’s Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth Claire Perry MP will attend the Bloomberg Future of Energy Summit conference in New York on Monday April 9, 2018, when she will announce Drax’s decision to sign up to the Powering Past Coal Alliance.
  • Drax Power Station announced its intention to convert its fourth generating unit to use biomass instead of coal earlier this year following the publication of the government’s response to its consultation on cost controls for further biomass conversions.
  • The company is also planning to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) this year for permission to repower its two remaining coal units with up to 3.6GW of gas power and 200MW of battery storage.
  • Subject to securing a DCO and depending on the outcome of future Capacity Market Auctions, the power station could stop using coal in 2023.

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 7 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

Drax hosts Whitehall & Industry Group

5 April 2018

Uncategorized

A group of senior business people, policymakers and government officials visited Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, today (Thursday April 5) to learn more about the UK’s largest power station and its transformation to become Europe’s largest decarbonisation project.

The Whitehall & Industry Group, a charity aimed at building cooperation between government and different business sectors, which Drax is a member of, had a tour of the power station and heard about how Drax upgraded half of its generating units to use sustainable biomass instead of coal and become a predominantly renewable power generator.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, who met with the delegation said:

“Using our extensive engineering skill and expertise we successfully upgraded half of the power station to use biomass, transforming the business to become the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.

“Today we produce 15% of the country’s renewable power – that’s enough for four million homes.

“We’re continuing to innovate – we plan to convert a fourth generating unit to use biomass later this year, and we’re also progressing plans for repowering the two remaining coal units with gas power generation and batteries.”

ENDS

Media contact

Ali Lewis

Drax Group Head of Media Relations

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612165

Jessica Gorton

Drax Group Press Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 01757 612848

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 7 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

Planning Inspector’s examination process starts

14 March 2018

Press releases

The hearings, which will be held whenever possible at the Marston Vale Forest Centre, are open to the public, and will be attended by Millbrook Power, Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedford Borough Council, local parish councils and other registered parties. Details of the examination process (including dates of future meetings) can be found via the Planning Inspectorate’s website or by contacting the Planning Inspectorate case team on 0303 444 5000.

At yesterday’s preliminary meeting, the Planning Inspector outlined the process that he will follow over the coming months. At the end of the examination period, the Inspector will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, as to whether or not the Project should proceed, with the final decision on whether a Development Consent Order should be granted resting with the Secretary of State. A decision could be expected in the early part of 2019.

We stand on the precipice of an electric revolution – Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner’s speech to the British Chambers of Commerce

8 March 2018

Uncategorized

Good morning everyone.

I would like to begin by thanking the British Chambers of Commerce for inviting me to speak today.

Adam Marshall and his team at the BCC do so much to represent British business – and events like this one today help bring together business leaders from across the country to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing UK plc.

Having been with Drax for two years as CFO, I became the Group’s CEO at the start of this year. In a few short weeks, I went from navigating the company’s finances to being captain of the ship.

Drax is a company that has gone through fundamental transformation. A transformation that is unprecedented for a company so critical to the UK’s infrastructure.

Almost 50 years ago, Drax began generating electricity from its power station in Selby, Yorkshire.

It provided more than enough electricity to power all the homes in London twice over – helping to power a resurgence in industrial output and an explosion in demand from consumers for white goods.

For three decades, the company continued in the same vein. Burning coal to power the country’s seemingly insatiable demand for electricity.

But as the world welcomed in the new millennium, everything changed.

Simmering and justifiable disquiet about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment gathered momentum and reached a nadir, resulting in climate change rising up the political agenda – both in the UK and internationally.

It sounded the death knell for Old King Coal and ushered in a wave of new, low carbon, renewable power generators.

Rather than trying to hold back the tide – and with the support of Government – Drax reinvented itself – and set about changing the UK’s energy landscape in the process.

Out went our dependence on coal and in came biomass – sustainable and renewable wood pellets that emit 80 per cent fewer carbon emissions than its predecessor.

Drax went from being the UK’s largest polluter to the largest single site renewable power generator in the country.

But from supporting a renaissance in the industrial revolution, we now stand on the precipice of a wholly-different revolution: an electric revolution.

And, more specifically, a people and business-powered renewable electric revolution.

A revolution that won’t seem so revolutionary to my daughter and her peers in 2035, as electric vehicles cruise clean streets without the need for a driver and our household appliances are all connected and communicate with one another.

A revolution that will see the electrification of transport and heating. Where, at a larger scale, the introduction of artificial intelligence will allow the entire grid to connect and work in harmony with every one of the billions of devices taking energy from it.

A revolution that will not be driven solely by large-scale power generators, but by ‘prosumers’ – individuals, businesses and institutions that not only consume electricity, but produce it too.

Spurred by falling costs that will make technologies like rooftop solar panels and domestic battery storage more affordable, prosumers will change the dynamic between energy suppliers and energy users for good.

From disengaged to engaged. From passive to active. From consumers to producers.

Prosumers want a reliable and flexible self-supply of energy – and to call upon a mix of renewable technologies, just as the national system does.

They want – and will have – the capacity to generate their own energy via a mix of solar, wind and biomass and then, crucially, sell back their excess electricity to an energy supplier.

In fact, new measures have already been put in place to encourage people to generate their own electricity.

These will make it easier for prosumers to generate, store and sell back their power to the Grid – something Ofgem estimates could save consumers up to £40 billion by 2050.

But what could this mean for the business of electricity?

Some, including National Grid, suggest multiple ‘commercial models’ will operate together to facilitate a decentralised, prosumer-based energy system.

These would include homes and businesses that wholly own their energy systems, as well as systems owned and operated by third parties, such as aggregators managing energy or solar-rental schemes.

This isn’t tomorrow’s world: it’s today’s.

Similar schemes are already in place in both the business and consumer retail markets.

Last year, for example, Opus Energy – a Drax Group company supplying energy to UK businesses – bought almost one terawatt of power from more than 2,000 small renewable generators.

These businesses use technologies such as solar, onshore wind and hydro. Opus Energy then sells that power onto its predominantly small business customer base.

And it’s here where perhaps the success or otherwise of the electric revolution will be determined.

Most business owners are extremely time poor with a very broad range of responsibilities – all of them pressing.

Although important, especially if they want it to be renewable, energy supply is unlikely to get much of their attention.

Far too frequently, energy is just confusing and unnecessarily complex.

The agenda is set by the supplier; seldom by the customer.

For the most part, businesses just want an energy supplier that can satisfy their particular energy needs and preferences simply, intelligently and accurately.

That’s why we want our customers to be able to make better and more informed choices.

Not only because that’s what they want, but also because it means renewable power and the way it is used will become a real part of the UK’s energy future.

But why does this make sense?

Well, think of your rubbish. Or rather, think back to your rubbish a decade ago.

Ten years ago everything – paper, plastic or glass – ended up in one bin and it all went to the same place.

Until, that is, people realised that to make daily recycling a more realistic proposition, it needed to be simple and easy. So, councils set about providing better facilities and services from bins to collection.

Now, when we throw away our rubbish, we sort it and separate it. What once seemed too difficult and over-complicated isn’t any more.

Now recycling and its contribution to greater sustainability is second nature.

We believe there needs to be a similar approach and attitude in energy supply.

Of course, all energy supply should be easy and straightforward – especially renewable energy. It might have been difficult and complicated in the past but it certainly isn’t now.

So perhaps the biggest barrier to large-scale adoption of prosumerism is technology.

Although research and innovation pounds, dollars and euros have been pouring into the technologies that make decentralised power generation possible, there are still developments to be made.

Solar is one of the most prominently used renewables by prosumers thanks to the relative affordability of rooftop solar systems.

Even home-interior giant IKEA now offers solar panels and battery systems through a partnership with the UK’s largest solar company, Solarcentury.

But like wind turbines, which are a more cost-prohibitive solution, solar is an intermittent energy source, which means domestic users may still need to access the grid to fill gaps in their own generation.

That is unless battery technology advances to a point where it can store enough solar – or wind-generated electricity to fully power homes and businesses affordably – all-year round, including in the dark, still days of midwinter.

Along with small scale generators, large-scale power producers have a crucial role to play here.

If we can store renewable electricity from intermittent sources when they are able to generate, it could then be utilised at times when they’re not.

However, the problem is the technology capable of storing electricity at scale doesn’t exist… yet.

But the race to develop it is well under way, and several companies are working on building ever bigger, more efficient electricity storage methods.

And Drax is at the front of this race.

We’re planning to develop two giant 100 megawatt batteries at our site in Selby.

These batteries would store electricity to enable our proposed gas-fired power generation to ramp up faster when needed – making our power station purpose-built for a more flexible future.

Together, they would be the largest batteries of their kind anywhere in the world.

But whether it be batteries or biomass; solar or electricity supply, what all parties need is certainty.

Like all large-scale energy producers, we need certainty of long-term policy to enable us to make investment decisions.

Investment decisions that will bring forward projects to make the electric revolution a reality.

And businesses looking to invest in renewable technologies need certainty to ensure their long-term investments will be economically viable.

The certainty Government provided energy suppliers more than a decade ago brought forward unprecedented investment in renewable power generation.

Investment that not only is helping to decarbonise the country’s energy supply, but has also created thousands of new jobs and empowered supply chains up and down the country.

Suppliers – and Drax included – also need certainty to help support small businesses to realise the full benefit of the electric revolution.

We must work harder to make systems easy to use and manage. We must create attractive tariffs and we must provide a service that gives peace of mind.

I am committed to doing all of this – because it makes sense for all of us.

But I am not just committed to changing what we do, but also how we do it. And I have spent much of my first two months as CEO looking at this.

A more diverse workforce is a stronger workforce. If Drax is to achieve what we’ve set out to achieve, we need to embrace this – because, quite simply, what we’ve been doing so far has not been good enough.

Without doubt, the energy sector as a whole must do more to attract women into the industry. But, speaking personally, I am committed to taking a lead and changing Drax’s practices, policies and culture to ensure we are an employer of choice for women who see their future in energy.

As I stand here today, I can reflect proudly on Drax’s transformation. But I hope that my successors will reflect more proudly on the role they played to transform the entire energy sector.

Not just for Drax, but for you too – the businesses that really power UK plc.

Thank you.