(Alliance News) - Drax Group PLC has been burning timber from protected forests in Canada at its North Yorkshire power station, at odds with its previous promise not to do so, according to a report by the BBC on Wednesday.
The Drax Power Station is a converted coal plant which produced around 5% of the UK's electricity in 2023.
Given that its use of wood pellets is treated as emissions-free, the power station receives government subsidies and has become "a key part of the government's drive to meet its climate targets", the BBC report noted. The UK government is currently debating whether to extend Drax's subsidy scheme past its current end date in 2027.
The wood pellets used by Drax are exclusively sourced from overseas timber, including Canadian forests.
BBC Panorama said that it had obtained documents from the British Colombia Ministry of Forests, showing that in 2023 Drax had taken over 40,000 tonnes of wood from rare, "old-growth" forests, which the provincial government said support "unique habitats, structures and ecological functions".
This contradicts Drax's 2017 claim that it would not take wood from what it called "no-go areas", including "protected forests, old growth or primary forest, sites that have been classified as having a high biodiversity value".
The BBC said that in response to its report, Drax said 77% of the material for its Canadian wood pellets came from sawdust and sawmill residues, with the rest coming from forestry residues and low-grade logs, including from old-growth forests. However in October last year, Drax said it decided to stop sourcing wood from old-growth priority deferral areas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68381160
Separately Wednesday, Drax said that it had secured agreements to provide a total of 426 megawatts of capacity from its pumped storage and hydro assets in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, as well as from three legacy gas turbines at the Drax Power Station.
The agreements are for the delivery period from October 2027 to September 2028 at a price of GBP65 per kilowatt.
The company has also secured agreements to provide a total of 240 megawatts of capacity for the refurbishment of two units at the Cruachan Power Station in Scotland's Argyle and Bute region.
The agreements are for the delivery period between October 2027 and September 2042.
The total cost of the two projects is around GBP80 million, Drax said, which are expected to return around GBP229 million of income throughout their respective delivery periods.
Shares in Drax were down 1.8% at 411.80 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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