Drax Group scraps Selby biomass plant plans
12 March 2012
Drax Group PLC has scrapped plans to build a dedicated 300MW biomass plant at its 4,000MW site in Selby, north Yorkshire - citing the lack of support for dedicated biomass power in the government’s Electricity Market Reform (EMR) proposals.
Drax said the lack of support for dedicated biomass power in the government’s EMR proposals made cancellation the most realistic option
The group originally unveiled plans in 2008 to develop three 300MW renewable energy plants, costing around £2 billion, in partnership with Siemens Project Ventures. Together with the renewable output from co-firing at Drax Power Station, the units - at Selby, Port of Immingham and an undecided third location - were to produce around around 10% of the UK’s total electricity.
Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax, asid she was disappointed at the proposed level of support for dedicated biomass developments in the EMR consultation document on the future support levels for renewable technologies from 2013, published last October.
The support level, she said, has made the investment case for the development planned for the Drax Power Station site particularly challenging, due to its inland location with increased logistics costs, and that cancellation was the most realistic option.
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