New multi-million pound biomass facility

Drax Group, which owns Drax, the coal-fired Power Station, has appointed Alstom to construct a main processing works.

We are only too well aware of the need to tackle climate change and we firmly believe that we are part of the solution

Dorothy Thompson

Chief Executive

Drax

The completed development is anticipated to create the largest biomass co-firing system in the world and will provide 400 MW of electricity.

The processing facility will blend coal with renewable materials to produce a fuel which has lower carbon emissions than conventional sources.

Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax, commented: "At Drax, we are only too well aware of the need to tackle climate change and we firmly believe that we are part of the solution.

She continued that the plant has a part to "play in the transition towards a low-carbon economy whilst delivering reliable supplies of electricity".

Drax has committed to producing ten per cent of its power from co-firing operations, as part of a strategy to reduce carbon emissions by 15 per cent over the next three years.

The power station, which claims to be the UK's cleanest and most efficient coal-firing plant, supplies seven per cent of the country's power requirements.

By producing ten per cent of its output from renewable sources, the plant will match the power generated by 500 wind turbines and reduce carbon emissions by two million tonnes a year.