Drax Gets Green Light for Key Carbon Capture Project

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The U.K. government has approved a plan by Drax Group plc (LSE:DRX) (Selby, England) to install carbon-capture technology at the country's biggest power station in Selby, North Yorkshire.

The company has been given the green light to install its bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology at two of its four biomass units, which burn wood pellets to produce electricity. Prior to its conversion over the past decade, the plant was the largest coal-fired plant in Western Europe. Today, as the U.K.'s largest, it generates 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of power, amounting to 4% of total demand. Drax claims that BECCS is currently the "only credible large-scale technology that can both deliver carbon removals and generate renewable power." It will use post-combustion capture technology to capture CO2, which will be transported by pipeline to undersea natural gas reservoirs. The company is part of the Zero Carbon Humber partnership and wider East Coast Cluster initiatives. On completion, it will be able to capture around 1.6% of the total emissions that the U.K. produced in 2022.

"The Development Consent Order approval is another milestone in the development of our BECCS plans," said Will Gardiner, chief executive officer of Drax Group. "The project which, when fully operational, will deliver secure renewable power and approximately 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide removals per year. We welcome the ongoing development of policy support for BECCS and the anticipated launch of a consultation on a bridging mechanism for biomass generators to take them from the end of current renewable schemes through to BECCS operations."

In related news, the company has announced that later this year it will launch a new independent business unit, centered around its BECCS technology and headquartered in Houston, Texas. It will focus on becoming a major player for large-scale and high-integrity carbon removals. Drax said it plans to spend billions of pounds on developing and rolling out its BECCS technology to other projects around the world.

Gardiner said: "The creation of this business brings to life years of hard work by many outstanding people across our Group and marks another step in Drax's journey to enable a zero-carbon, lower-cost energy future. The new entity will bring focus and will scale the company's ability to deliver carbon removals to organizations looking to reduce their carbon footprints."

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