Drax shelves plans for new biomass plant
COAL-FIRED power producer Drax has scrapped plans to build a dedicated biomass plant on its site in North Yorkshire.
The company, which also reported a smaller-than-expected drop in full-year core earnings yesterday, said state support levels for using only biomass in power generation were still too low. High costs of transporting fuel to its inland site also contributed to the decision to abandon one of its biomass projects, it said.
Drax had planned to build a 290-megawatt dedicated biomass plant in cooperation with Siemens Project Ventures on its Selby site where it already owns one of Britain’s largest coal-fired power plants.
The decision “creates another obstacle for the government and their ambitious 2020 mandatory renewable energy targets,” said James Barrett-Miles of Ernst & Young.
Shares in Drax dropped two per cent to 508p yesterday.