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."
Drax profits hit by cost of coal
Daily Telegraph -- Drax Group, the owner of western Europe's biggest coal-fired power station, reported a 45pc decline in first-half profit as higher selling prices for its power was more than offset by increased costs for coal and carbon emission allowances.
Drax reported a profit before tax of £150m, down from £273m in the first half of last year, despite revenues leaping from £640m to £802m on the back of increased selling prices. It sold electricity for an average of £53.6 per megawatt hour, up from £48.1 a year ago.
The fall in profits came as the amount the company pays for coal and the cost of its emissions almost doubled over the period from £222m to £413m.
Coal has risen in price from $68 a tonne at the end of 2006 to $218 a tonne by the end of June 2008, while the need to buy more carbon emission permits - and the extra cost of them - pushed costs up from £11m to £108m over the period.
