Drax power station

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For the James Bond villain, see Sir Hugo Drax.

For Marvel comics character, see Drax the Destroyer.

Eggborough Power Station (Near Drax Power Station)(from the east side) in 2004

Drax is a large coal-fired power station located near Selby in North Yorkshire in Northern England. It is named after the parish of Drax. The plant has six 660 MW generating units, with a maximum capacity of 3,945 MW, producing around 24 TWhr (86.4 petajoules) annually. It is the largest single electricity generator in the United Kingdom, producing around 7% of total demand, and the second largest coal-fired plant in Europe. It has a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day, it takes around 7 million to 11 million tonnes annually, mostly imported from Poland (hence the demise of the Selby coal field). Although it generates around 1.5 million tonnes of ash and 22.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, Drax is the most carbon efficient coal-fired powerplant in the United Kingdom[1].

Built by the Central Electricity Generating Board to be near the newly discovered Selby coalfields, Drax was the last coal-fired plant to be built in Britain, and was constructed in two equal-sized phases (three generating units each). The first phase began generation in 1974, and the second phase was complete by 1986. The boilers were constructed by Babcock Power Ltd and the generators by Parsons. The plant was fitted with FGD (Flue gas desulfurization) scrubbers over eight years from 1988 by Mitsui-Babcock. Its 259 m (850 ft) chimney is the tallest chimney in the UK.

In November 1999, AES Corporation bought Drax from National Power for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). The plant was troubled by the fall in wholesale energy prices and the collapse of TXU Europe, which took 60% of its output, into administration. The US company abandoned the plant to its creditors in August 2003, leaving a total debt of around US$2 billion. BHP Billiton, International Power, RWE and E.ON were all touted as potential buyers, although all reported bids were for less than US$200 million. These offers were rejected, and the subsequent rise in energy prices meant that by late 2005 the plant's owners were receiving offers in the region of £2 billion. Negotiations were not concluded successfully, however, and on 23 November 2005 Drax Power Ltd announced that the latest bid to buy Drax had failed. On 15 December 2005 Drax Power Ltd floated its shares on the London Stock Exchange : it forms part of the FTSE 100 list.

[edit] Environmental effects

In 2005 Drax produced 20.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Times reports this is more than that produced by 103 small unindustrialised nations and compares to 91 million tonnes of carbon dioxide produced by vehicles in the UK. [2] However, it is still the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power stations in the UK due to its relative youth and investment in pollution-reduction technologies.

On 31 August 2006, around 600 people attended a protest against the power station called Reclaim Power. Thirty nine people were arrested during a protest at the plant against carbon emissions after they tried to illegally gain access to the plant. At least 3,000 police officers, from 12 forces from as far afield as Hampshire and London, were reported to have been drafted in for the duration of the protest.[3]

The protests were coordinated by the Camp for Climate Action, a 10-day camp held near the power station, which has also included a protest against a nuclear power station in Hartlepool, Teesside. [4],[5],[6],[7]