UK’s Drax power station converts fourth unit from coal to biomass

• 5 years ago (2018-08-22)
• David Flin

Coal 274 Europe 1061

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Drax power station in north Yorkshire, UK, has converted a fourth generating unit to operate on biomass rather than coal. The company said that this moves it a step closer to becoming coal-free, and that it is on course to eliminate coal entirely from the plant before the Government’s 2025 deadline.

There has been an 84 per cent reduction in coal-fired power generation in the UK over the last five years as low carbon generation has increased.

To convert the fourth unit, Drax re-used redundant infrastructure left from when the company was first co-firing biomass with coal on a large scale, around eight years ago. The cost of converting the fourth generating unit was around £30 million. Drax has already invested around £700 million in upgrading the first three units and associated supply chain infrastructure to use biomass instead of coal.