Category Archives: Drax

Police acting as ‘private security’ for Drax power station, say climate activists

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Greenpeace among 150 groups expressing outrage after preemptive arrests led to cancellation of protest camp

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have accused police of acting as “private security” for the UK’s biggest carbon emitter after dozens of pre-emptive arrests forced the cancellation of a climate protest camp near Drax power station.

In a statement signed by almost 150 groups, they called the operation against activists who had spent months planning the camp near the wood-burning power station “an unreasonable restriction of free speech”.

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Drax-owned wood pellet plant in US broke air pollution rules again

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Amite BioEnergy, which was fined $2.5m in 2021, notified Mississippi facility had breached emission limits

A US plant that supplies wood pellets to the UK power generator Drax has violated air pollution limits in Mississippi, it has emerged.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has written to Amite BioEnergy notifying the Drax-owned company that it had violated emissions rules.

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Businesses in north of England ask ministers for help to hit net zero

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Leaders of Drax, Siemens and others call for green growth to be a priority and ‘regional disparities’ to be closed

Business leaders in the north of England have written to the prime minister, chancellor and energy secretary asking for help to reach net zero.

Big names including Drax, Siemens, Peel, Manchester airport, the CBI and all 11 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) in the north signed a letter urging the government to prioritise green growth in the north.

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Coal power stations warmed up for third time this week as UK cold snap persists

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National Grid put Drax and EDF’s West Burton generator on standby, with the latter stood down at 5am

National Grid asked coal-fired power stations to warm up on Thursday for the third time this week in case they are needed as cold weather across the UK continues.

Two units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Nottinghamshire were asked to fire up just before midnight on Wednesday. The West Burton unit was stood down at 5:13am, but the Drax units have continued to heat up, according to notifications sent to the industry.

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Burning imported wood in Drax power plant ‘doesn’t make sense’, says Kwarteng

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Drax has taken £5.6bn in subsidies from energy bill payers but business secretary says practice is ‘not sustainable’

The importing of wood to burn in Drax power station “is not sustainable” and “doesn’t make any sense”, the business and energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, told a private meeting of MPs this week.

The remarks are significant as the burning of biomass to produce energy is an important part of the UK government’s net zero strategy and has received £5.6bn in subsidies from energy bill payers over the last decade. Scientists and campaigners have long argued that burning wood to produce electricity is far from green and can even increase the CO2 emissions driving the climate crisis.

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