'BECCS to the future' as Drax leads the way
MARTY McFly and Doc Brown travelled through time to alter the course of history - now Drax Power Station is going BECCS to the future!
And it's a trailblazing ride that could save the planet.
Imagine if you could travel back in time and undo the carbon emissions of the past.
In the classic Back to the Future films, the flux capacitor was the secret to time travel. At Drax the key is BECCS, or Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage.
By burning biomass, capturing the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is emitted and storing it underground for centuries, it aims to remove carbon from the atmosphere while producing secure renewable power.
It's effectively a carbon 'time machine', with the biomass storing CO2 that was released in the past to create a better future.
Just as the DeLorean was a symbol of futuristic travel, pioneering Drax Power Station represents a drive towards a sustainable energy future.
But this is not science fiction. It's fact.
Drax, celebrating 50 years of innovation and resilience, converted four of its six coal-fired units to burn biomass. Its future plan is to be carbon negative by 2030, by sequestering the CO2 it creates into depleted oil and gas fields, under the North Sea.
The audacious target is to capture and store eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year - equivalent to cancelling all annual flight departures from Heathrow or taking three million cars off the road.
The process would help in reversing global warming.
With world-leading ambition, ongoing advancements and a commitment to reducing carbon emissions, the future looks as bright as the flux capacitor’s glow and it’s time to buckle up.
Drax already powers 4 million UK homes, contributes £358 million to the local economy and supports 2,500 jobs, including around 1,000 on site.
The £2 billion carbon capture and storage technology investment could create and support up to 10,000 jobs during construction and beyond.
In simple terms, BECCS is a method that combines renewable energy production with carbon capture and storage to help fight climate change.
According to the National Grid, BECCS will be essential to hit net zero. Every single one of the Future Energy Scenarios in its 2024 report has millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere by BECCS post-2030.
Drax’s efforts set a global benchmark for sustainability in energy production.
The company's work is paving the way for other energy providers to adopt similar technologies.
It is expanding into the US, focusing on areas with the right mix of sustainable forestry, geological storage options, and supportive policies.
As Drax continues to innovate and expand, it is setting a powerful example of how the energy sector can evolve to address climate change and create a more sustainable future.
Bruce Heppenstall, Drax Plant Director, says: " By fitting carbon capture to our power station we can help the UK get to a net zero position more cheaply and faster than any other equivalent technology . Ultimately, we have plans to capture eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide from this plant.
"There's always new technology being developed. And I think carbon capture and storage technology is a great example of that. So we see this being able to start a whole new industry sector for the UK. And if the UK is first, we can lead the world like we did when we discovered offshore oil in Aberdeen and then we exported that to the rest of the world. We can do the same with carbon capture technology.
"From the power station that is here, just outside Selby, we're gradually making Drax into a truly global energy company. We've got offices now in Houston, in Tokyo, and we are looking to then take the technology we've developed here and export that to the USA and make carbon capture using sustainable biomass a reality in the USA as well. It all starts here in Yorkshire."
Ann Burton, Head of Global BECCS Development at Drax, has been explaining how the power station is at the forefront of BECCS.
Her vision for the future is clear: "As a business we've looked to move with the times and with the science. In the past 20 years or so we've had a real focus on how we could decarbonise our power plant within the UK.
"It's a substantial operation and it's taken decades to make this happen.
"We've done a lot of work to understand how you convert a coal-fired power station and remove the carbon that is emitted from the atmosphere, and have developed a solution that is better for the environment.”
Ann added: "As a result of the work that we've done within the UK, we've become one of the largest decarbonisation projects within Europe.
She added: "We built a pilot facility at our North Yorkshire power plant and it's been used to test and develop a number of different carbon capture technologies, to understand which one works best with the biomass.
"We're working with the UK government to begin the journey of converting the first unit at Drax, which would still produce large amounts of electricity whist capturing over 4 million tons of CO2 that we would store in the ground.
"BECCS has the potential to make a fundamental difference to our power grids and also our climate.
"It provides an opportunity to supply renewable energy 24/7 to help decarbonise the power grid; it helps to support healthy forests and it also helps to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
"I'm very excited about this technology and the deployment of it, not only within the UK but internationally."
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DRAX IN NUMBERS:
* 1974: The year that Drax Power Station was commissioned.
* 4 Million: The number of UK homes already powered by Drax with a capacity of 3,906 Megawatts.
* £358 million: Drax contribution to the local economy.
* 7,130: Number of direct and supply chain jobs supported in the UK, including 2,500 in Yorkshire and the Humber.
* 99%: Reduction in CO2 emissions since switching from coal to biomass.
* 5 countries: Number of countries sourcing biomass for Drax.
* 2030: Drax hopes to have BECCS online, to be carbon negative, by 2030.
* £2 billion: Planned investment in carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
* 10,000: Number of jobs which could be created during BECCS construction.
* 8 million tonnes: Amount of carbon dioxide the plant aims to capture - equivalent to removing 3 million cars off the road.
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