Drax Power Station
Britain's biggest power station, reinvented. Drax Power Station is a 2,595 MW biomass power station in Yorkshire, England, operated by Drax Group.
- Yorkshire
- England
- Commissioned 1974
Key facts
- Installed capacity
- 2,595 MW
- Status
- Operational
- Technology
- Biomass
- Operator
- Drax Group
- Region
- Yorkshire
- Country
- England
- Coordinates
- 53.7356, -0.9969
- Commissioned
- 1974
- Units
- 6
- Active units
- 4
- Cooling
- Evaporative towers
- Chimney height m
- 259
- Turbine type
- Steam (converted)
- Annual output twh
- 12
Location
Map position from the published coordinates. For small sites this can be an approximate point rather than the exact boundary. Map Β© OpenStreetMap contributors.
How Drax Power Station compares
Biomass power stations burn organic material such as wood pellets, energy crops or agricultural residues to raise steam for a turbine.
All biomass power stations Power stations in YorkshireAbout Drax Power Station
Drax is the largest power station in the UK and the biggest single source of renewable electricity. Once the largest coal-fired plant in Western Europe, it has converted four of its six units to burn compressed wood pellets.
History
Commissioned in 1974, Drax was built to burn coal from the nearby Selby coalfield. At its peak it consumed 36,000 tonnes of coal a day. The conversion to biomass began in 2013 and the last coal unit closed in March 2021. The site remains controversial β critics question whether shipping wood pellets from North America is truly sustainable.
Did you know?
- Supplies around 4% of UK electricity
- Chimney is 259m tall β taller than the Eiffel Tower's observation deck
- Burns 7 million tonnes of wood pellets per year
- The cooling towers are 114m tall
Nearby power stations
- Drax Power Station Biomass Units Β· 2,580 MW biomass power station0.4 km
- Rusholme Β· 24 MW onshore wind farm3.3 km
- Primrose Hill Β· 4.35 MW solar farm6.1 km
- Pollington Airfield Β· 5 MW solar farm7.7 km
- Eggborough Power Station Β· 1,960 MW coal-fired power station8.6 km
- Goole Fields B Β· 34.9 MW onshore wind farm9.8 km
- Spaldington Β· 11.8 MW onshore wind farm10.3 km
- Goole Fields A Β· 33 MW onshore wind farm10.5 km
Planning history
From the government's Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), matched to this site by location, capacity and name.
- Planning status
- Abandoned
- Site name in planning record
- Drax Ouse Renewable Energy Park
- Developer / operator
- Drax Power and Siemens Project Ventures
- Planning authority
- North Yorkshire
- Application submitted
- 23 July 2009
- Permission granted
- 10 August 2011
- Capacity in planning record
- 290 MW
- Address
- Selby, North Yorkshire, North Yorkshire
- REPD reference
- 94
Source
Drax Power Station.
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