A half century of coal-fired electricity generation is expected to come to an end in March 2021, with Drax announcing that its power station in North Yorkshire will stop burning coal by the end next year, three years in advance of the UK’s deadline.

The decision marks a major milestone in the company’s ambitions to become carbon negative by 2030 and follows comes a comprehensive review of its operations. Over the last decade four of the power station’s six generating units have been converted to use sustainable biomass, making Drax the UK’s largest renewable power generator and the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe.

The announcement comes after the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, recently announced it was revoking an exclusion of Drax Group from its investments, recognising the company’s move away from coal to biomass.

CEO Will Gardiner said: “Having pioneered ground-breaking biomass technology, we’re now planning to go further by using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to achieve our ambition of being carbon negative by 2030, making an even greater contribution to global efforts to tackle the climate crisis.”

Drax is talking to the Government, trades unions and industrial businesses across the North about joining with Drax in establishing a new Zero Carbon Skills Taskforce to help people in the region gain the skills and expertise required to seize new job opportunities as the UK moves towards a net zero economy.

Gardiner added: “In making the decision for the UK to stop using coal and to decarbonise the economy, it’s vital that the impact on people across the North is recognised and steps are taken to ensure that they have the skills needed for the new jobs of the future.”

Drax’s plans to develop BECCS means it could be the ‘anchor’ for the Zero Carbon Humber initiative which aims to bring industrial businesses together to make the region the first net-zero industrial economy in the world.

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