Biomass boost at Drax

New biomass storage facilities and distribution systems have opened at the UK's largest coal-fired plant

The new facilities means that Drax power station in Yorkshire is on course to become its largest single renewable electricity generator by 2016.

The biomass conversion will ultimately see three of the six generating units at the power station converted to burn sustainable biomass in place of coal, reducing annual carbon emissions from the plant by around 10 million tonnes compared to levels today, according to Drax.

The plant first started burning biomass in place of coal in 2003. The first unit was fully converted to burn biomass in April 2013, and a second will come on stream later this year, with the final unit converted in 2016.

Most of the biomass burned at Drax is sourced from the US. The company adopted a biomass sustainability policy in 2008 and claims that the feedstock comes from sustainably managed forests where overall the rate of growth equals or exceeds the rate of extraction, so forest stocks and therefore the carbon stocks of forests are not depleted.