April 25, 2023 (press release) –
- Drax has announced that almost 50 years of power generation from coal at its
North Yorkshire power station has come to an end. -
Drax Power Station was once WesteEurope's largest coal-fired power station but has been transformed into theUK's single-largest generator of renewable electricity. -
Drax Power Station's four biomass units generated 12.7TWh of electricity in 2022.
Global renewable energy company Drax has today announced the official end of coal-fired generation at Drax Power Station in
Following the discovery of the Selby coalfield, construction of the coal-fired Drax Power Station began nearby in 1967. The power station started generating power out of its first unit in 1974 and in 1975, following the completion of two additional generators, the site officially opened. At the time, this provided enough power for around two million homes and in 1986, power generation capacity was doubled to just under 4GW.
Once the largest coal-fired power station in WesteEurope, the plant is now the single largest generator of renewable power in the
Following the end of the winter contingency agreement, Drax will now embark on a decommissioning process to remove coal-related infrastructure from the site which will start with the flue gas desulphurisation plant that was built in the 1990s to remove 90% of the sulphur from the plant's air emissions.
Will Gardiner
,
Drax Group
CEO, said:
"Ending the use of coal at Drax is a landmark moment in our efforts to become a world-leading carbon negative company.
"I'd like to thank the many hundreds of people, including our staff, suppliers, and local communities, for all the hard work it has taken to transform Drax Power Station into the
"By converting the plant to use sustainable biomass we have not only continued generating the secure power millions of homes and businesses rely on, but we have also played a significant role in enabling the
"We're now planning to go further by using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to permanently remove millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, and we are engaged in discussions with the
"The global momentum for converting coal-fired power stations to biomass is growing as more countries work to reduce their emissions by moving away from fossil fuels to renewables while maintaining their energy security. In recent months, new projects have been announced in countries from
The
Through transforming the plant to use sustainable biomass instead of coal, Drax has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by approximately 99% since 2012.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
Editor's Notes:
- Coal-fired generation began in 1974 when the first 660 MW unit was commissioned.
- The station began co-firing biomass with coal in 2003, with the first of four full-unit conversions from coal to sustainable biomass taking place in 2013.
- Drax's
UK generation assets are the country's largest source of renewable power by output - 11% of annualised total, 19% of peak (up to 70% in-day peak) in 2022.
About Drax
Drax's around 3,000 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
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes 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
Drax's pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
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