Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner responds to a new government consultation to support power BECCS

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner, said:

"The government is paving the way for the UK to lead the world in deploying vital carbon removal technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). This could kick start a whole new sector of the economy, creating green growth on an even greater scale than we have seen in the UK previously with renewables like wind and solar.

"BECCS is vital to energy security and net zero because it can produce reliable renewable power whilst also permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - no other technology does both.

"Drax plans to invest £2bn in what will be the biggest carbon capture in power project in the world, supporting UK energy security, delivering thousands of jobs in the north in the 2020s, and creating new export opportunities."

Background:

• Drax has applied for development consent for its BECCS Project. If this is approved and with the right support from government, BECCS at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire could permanently remove 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from 2030.
• Work to build BECCS could get underway as soon as 2024, creating and supporting around 10,000 jobs at its peak.
• Drax aims to source 80% of the services and materials for the project from British businesses.
• It recently signed an agreement with British Steel to explore opportunities to source steel needed for its BECCS project from British Steel's Scunthorpe and Teesside plants.
• The CO2 captured by BECCS at Drax would be transported by pipeline to a geological storage site under the North Sea. The transportation and storage is being managed by the Northern Endruance Partnership which is part of the East Coast Cluster - one of the UK Government's two priority CCS clusters which includes CCS, hydrogen and BECCS projects in Teesside and the Humber.