Drax has submitted plans for two large-scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) units at its Selby power station in Yorkshire, UK. It said that these units will remove eight million tonnes of CO2 annually from 2030.
Drax said that it will invest £2 billion this decade into the project. The project requires a Development Consent Order from the UK government’s Planning Inspectorate, as it is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
Drax stated that it intends to bring one BECCS unit online in 2024 and to add the second by 2030. It is in the process of converting its power plant at Selby from coal to biomass. Of the six boilers, four have been switched to biomass. The other two will remain available for coal generation until March 2023. The end date had been September 2022, but coal operations were extended on the request of the UK Government due to the energy crisis resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.