Drax : announces 80% British supply chain ambition to support construction of world’s largest carbon capture project

• BECCS at Drax could mean British companies benefit from supply contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds, protecting and creating over 10,000 jobs across the Humber, developing green skills, and helping level up the North.
• Announcement made as Drax launches series of nationwide supplier events for UK businesses to get involved in delivering this vital multi-billion-pound project in the 2020s.

Renewable energy company Drax has announced that it aims to source 80% of the construction materials and services needed to deliver its climate saving negative emissions technology bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) from the UK supply chain.

The 80% ambition includes all construction materials needed as part of the deployment of the multi-billion-pound project such as steel, pipes, heat pumps, electricals, and insulation, as well as the support services involved in delivering such a large project.

In doing so, BECCS at Drax has the potential to deliver hundreds of millions of pounds worth of contracts for British businesses. As well as this, BECCS will protect and create over 10,000 jobs across the Humber, decarbonising one of the UK's most carbon intensive regions as part of the East Coast Cluster, whilst developing green skills, kickstarting new industries and helping level up the North.

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said:

"BECCS will play a vital role in enabling the UK to reach its legally binding net zero target, as well as saving the energy system billions of pounds in the process.

"Our ambition is to put the UK supply chain at the heart of delivering this crucial climate saving technology and by doing so we'll create and protect thousands of new jobs, kickstart new industries and help level up the UK."

The announcement comes as Drax launches the first in a series of nationwide supplier events. Run in partnership with the West & North Yorkshire and Hull & Humber Chambers of Commerce, and organised by business support organisation NOF, the event series will enable new and prospective suppliers to learn more about the BECCS project, as well as how they can be involved in delivering this vital negative emissions technology.

Drax has a proven track record in delivering ambitious and pioneering infrastructure projects - the conversion of its power station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable biomass instead of coal has enabled it to become the UK's largest single site renewable generator, reducing its emissions by over 90% and paving the way for the deployment of BECCS.

A formal public consultation on Drax's BECCS plans will take place in November, when stakeholders including local communities will be able to learn more about the proposed project and provide their feedback as part of the planning process.

Work to build BECCS at Drax could get underway as soon as 2024, with the first BECCS unit operational in 2027 and a second in 2030, delivering the world's largest carbon capture in power project and making a signification contribution to the UK's decarbonisation targets.

Businesses interested in finding out more about Drax's plans and attending its nationwide supplier event series, taking place throughout 2022, can email [email protected]

ENDS

Media contacts

Ben Wicks
Drax Group Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07761 525 662

Editor's Notes

• 80% domestic supply chain figure includes materials and services to be used within the construction for Drax's BECCS project, however, this does not include the carbon capture technology to be delivered by Drax's technology partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
• Leading climate scientists at the UN's IPCC and UK Climate Change Committee have said that the world cannot address the climate crisis without negative emissions from technologies like BECCS, which permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Work to build BECCS at Drax could get underway as soon as 2024, with the creation of thousands of jobs.
• Subject to the right regulatory support, the first BECCS unit could be operational in 2027, with the second commissioned in 2030, enabling Drax to achieve its world-leading ambition to be a carbon negative company by 2030.
• Analysis by Baringa shows BECCS at Drax will save the UK £13bn in achieving the government's legally binding fifth Carbon Budget.

About Drax

Drax Group's purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technology.

Its 3,400 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.

Power generation

Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK's largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country's electricity needs.

Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK's biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.

Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station - a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.

Pellet production and supply

Drax owns and has interests in 17 pellet mills in the US South and Western Canada which have the capacity to manufacture 4.9 million tonnes of compressed wood pellets (biomass) a year. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.

Drax's pellet mills supply around 30% of the biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK's homes and businesses.

Customers

Drax is the largest supplier of renewable electricity to UK businesses, supplying 100% renewable electricity as standard to more than 370,000 sites through Drax and Opus Energy.

It offers a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.

To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com