Drax data centre plan can ensure future of Yorkshire power station, says CEO
Plans for a new data centre at Drax to support the artificial intelligence industry can help prolong the longevity of the Yorkshire power station after separate plans for a carbon capture scheme at the site were shelved indefinitely, the energy company’s boss has said.
A new data centre at Drax has been mooted as part of plans for North Yorkshire to become an ‘AI Growth Zone’ and the company is preparing a planning application for its creation, with hopes it could be in operation as early as next year.
It comes after Drax postponed long-standing £2bn plans for a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) scheme in 2023 – citing a lack of certainty over Government support for the plan.
The company’s 2025 results, published last week, included a £48m impairment charge relating to the lack of further progress on BECCS. The report stated: “Whilst UK BECCS is still an attractive option for the group in the long term, the current political environment and absence of an appropriate regulatory framework has led to a reduction in the likelihood of the project proceeding in the short to medium-term. Accordingly, the capitalised value has been impaired.”
When asked by The Yorkshire Post what the potential timeline on the BECCS project now is, Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner said: “There needs to be a system. At the end of the day, carbon removal is something government and society decides they want to pay for and until we have that system and structure in place, it is difficult for us to do it.
"We think it is a very good way to do carbon removals but at the end of the day if people don’t want that then we will wait until they are ready. I don’t really have a timeframe.”
He added that the data centre idea is a different way of ensuring Drax Power Station has a “long future” ahead of it.
"BECCS was a really important idea for carbon removals but also to ensure the longevity of the power station. The data centre is a newer idea and we think it is going to be pretty exciting.
"There’s a lot of work happening behind the scenes. The logic here is the world is massively moving to AI and the detail works for the power station.”
The council’s 2025 results said: “Drax is preparing a planning application to support the potential option for a first phase data centre of c.100MW on land identified at Drax Power Station.
"This could use the existing infrastructure and transformers previously used to support coal generation to import power directly from the grid (front-of-the-meter). This could support the operation of a data centre at Drax Power Station as soon as 2027, subject to the necessary consents and agreements.
"In the long term, Drax is developing options for over 1GW of data centre capacity. This could utilise existing generation capabilities at Drax Power Station to provide a distributed (behind-the-meter) energy solution with around-the-clock renewable power directly to a data centre under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement, subject to necessary consents and agreements.
"Any decision to develop data centres at Drax Power Station will require a full assessment of the capital cost and investment case, as well as establishing the commercial and development structures.”
The report said a recent energy supply contract signed with the Government covering 2027 to 2031 “includes a mechanism for Drax to request up to 500MW to power a data centre during this period”.
It added: “This mechanism is subject to agreement with the UK Government, taking into account factors including value for money for consumers, energy security, and sustainability.”