Rather than converting the remaining two of its six units to biomass, Drax is planning a major coal-to-gas repowering, with construction of 3.6 GW of gas combined cycle, plus a 200 MW battery storage facility, on its Yorkshire site. It is also developing four stand alone open cycle gas turbine peaking plants on sites in eastern England and Wales.
Drax, which has recently signed up to the Powering Past Coal Alliance (a UK–Canadian initiative that seeks to end the use of coal by 2030 in developed countries), believes it could be coal-free somewhat ahead of the UK government’s 2025 target date for eliminating unabated coal from UK power generation. Drax says it has transformed itself to become the “largest decarbonisation project in Europe.”
