Drax To Become Largest Single Site Renewable Generator In UK

An engineering, procurement and construction contract, to supply direct injection biomass co-firing systems to all six coal-fired generating units at the 4,000MW Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, was signed this week with Doosan Babcock Energy Limited. On completion of the £10 million contract, the biomass co-firing facility will, says Drax, be the largest of its type in the world, which alongside its existing co-firing capability will provide a total of 500MW of renewable electricity. The biomass co-firing facility will reduce Drax Power Station’s emissions of CO2 by over two and a half million tonnes per annum.

Work on the project will commence immediately, says Drax, with the detailed engineering design and procurement of key items of equipment. Installation of the direct injection systems is scheduled to be complete towards the end of 2009. All six generating units will be commissioned in parallel with the delivery of the biomass handling and processing plant programme.

Dorothy Thompson, Chief Executive of Drax, said: "This contract marks the next critical step in the execution of our co-firing project and we are very pleased to be furthering our working relationship with Doosan Babcock.

"In August, we were pleased to announce that the identification of biomass sources in excess of our direct injection project requirements meant that we could run the new facility alongside our existing co-firing capability to give us a total renewable capacity of 500MW, making us the largest single site renewable generator in the UK."