Drax ends burning coal after 50 years in North Yorkshire

The company yesterday announced that power generation from coal at its North Yorkshire power station has come to an end, after it was once the largest of its kind in western Europe.

The company did extend the burning of coal last year at the request of the government during the fuel crisis which saw the UK seeking to cope with the impacts of the war in Ukraine on the energy market.

Following the discovery of the Selby coalfield, construction of the Drax Power Station began nearby in 1967, with the power station starting to generate power in 1974.

It comes after the company missed out on the first round of Government funding for its carbon capture project for biomass energy (BECCS), and was later warned that it could not skip the queue for future funding as it started negotiations over the projects future.

Earlier this week the National Grid pulled out its plans to develop new pipelines in the Humber to take carbon dioxide emissions out to the North Sea.

National Grid Ventures is set to sell the onshore pipeline project to partners, in what would be a blow to the Government’s net zero ambitions, after Drax and other companies in Yorkshire and the Humber missed out on funding for their own carbon projects.

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 UK’s biggest renewable power source by output.

“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 UK’s power system to decarbonise faster than any other in the world.

“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 UK Government to move this £2bn project forward.”