History
Construction began in 1967, and the power station started producing electricity in 1974. It was built to provide large amounts of electricity for homes, businesses, and industry across the United Kingdom. When it was completed, Drax became the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe.
For many years, Drax generated electricity by burning coal. Coal was delivered to the station by train from mines across Britain. The station has six large generating units and can produce enough electricity to supply millions of homes. It played an important role in the UK’s electricity network for several decades.
In the 2010s, Drax began changing from coal to biomass fuel to reduce carbon emissions. Today, most of its generating units burn compressed wood pellets instead of coal. These wood pellets are mainly imported from North America and are used to produce renewable electricity. Drax is now one of the UK’s largest renewable power stations and is also developing carbon capture technology to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future.
