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Plant runs solely on biomass

The chairman of Drax Group PLC Wednesday said the FTSE 250 electricity generator will be predominantly powered by biomass before the end of this year, but called on the UK government to implement the right policy to ensure coal-powered generation ends by 2025 as planned.

The company has three principal activities but is best known for owning the Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which is the largest power station in the UK and can power the equivalent of around 1.0 million homes, equal to around 8% of overall demand in the UK.

Station powered by biomass

However, Drax has evolved the station since it was built back in 1974 by slowly transitioning from coal-fired units to ones powered by biomass, and is currently in the process of converting its third unit out of six at the power plant.

Ahead of the company's annual general meeting on Wednesday, Drax Chairman Philip Cox said the company had moved early by starting the conversion to biomass ten years ago, way before the UK government announced plans to stop coal-powered generation altogether, but called for support from the government to ensure it meets those targets.

Transformation to biomass powered plant 

With three units at the power plant left to convert to biomass from coal, Drax is hoping to have the plant running solely on biomass before 2025, which is the date by which the UK government wants all coal-fired power generation to have ceased.

"Operationally your business performed strongly and in 2016 we will complete our transformation to a predominantly biomass powered generator," said Cox. "An increase in the use of sustainably sourced biomass is the fastest, safest and most affordable means by which the UK can move away from coal and support more wind and solar generating capacity in the future."

"With the right policy frameworks we could become 100% renewable through the full conversion of our three remaining coal units and we could do this well before 2025. We will continue to work closely with the government to help them reduce the UK's reliance on coal," Cox added.

Specifically, Drax is using wood pellets that are imported to power the units that have already been converted, and on Wednesday Cox reiterated the company's sustainable approach to sourcing that fuel.

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