Drax Biomass Power Station: Environmental Impact Analysis

{Drax Biomass Power Station – plus that coal fired power station at Ratcliffe on Soar has now shut – Earth and Leaf Editorial}

{extract below}

The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.

The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember.

The figures show that Drax Biomass Power Station, which has received billions in subsidies since it began switching from coal to biomass in 2012, was responsible for 11.5m tonnes of CO₂ last year, or nearly 3% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. {Earth and Leaf Editorial – it doesnt count towards our own UK emissions targets}

Drax Biomass Power Station – Subsidised

Drax produced four times more carbon dioxide than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, which is due to close in September. Drax also produced more emissions last year than the next four most polluting power plants in the UK combined, according to the report.

Frankie Mayo, an analyst at Ember, said: “Burning wood pellets can be as bad for the environment as coal; supporting biomass with subsidies is a costly mistake.”