Drax to build world's largest biomass co-firing plant

London - Drax Group plc has awarded Alstom a £50-million EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract to build the main processing works for a 1500 kilotonnes-per-annum biomass co-firing facility at the 4,000MW Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. The new 400MW unit is expected to be the largest biomass co-firing project in the world.

The processing works will receive, handle, store and process various biomass materials ready for direct injection into the power station’s coal-fired boilers. Drax said it expects to award contracts for the direct injection equipment and the rail unloading facility in the next few months.

Work on the project - Alstom's first at Drax - has already started: preparing the site for construction which is due to start in the second half of 2008. Commissioning of phase one of the project is to be completed by late next year. The project is part of Drax’s commitment to tackling climate change through reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 15%.

Co-firing, the blending and burning of renewable biomass materials with coal, can significantly reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power stations. Over the last five years, Drax has developed the capability to co-fire renewable biomass materials with coal and aims to produce 10% of its output from co-firing - reduce its CO2 emissions by over two million tonnes a year.

“Delivering significant fuel diversification and carbon abatement is central to our business strategy," said Dorothy Thompson, Drax chief executive. "Meeting our 10% co-firing target is key to achieving our goal of 15% carbon abatement and this contract represents a major milestone in the execution of our co-firing project.

“At Drax, we are only too well aware of the need to tackle climate change and we firmly believe that we are part of the solution. We have a role to play in the transition towards a low carbon economy whilst delivering reliable supplies of electricity.”

Meanwhile, a Drax statement reported that the Yorkshire power station is also making good progress with its turbine upgrade project. When complete, this will deliver a further one million tonnes saving in CO2 emissions. Combined with achieving its 10% co-firing target, Drax is set to reduce its annual emissions of CO2 by 15% by 2011.