As Yorkshire's Drax Power Station celebrates 50 years of lighting millions of our homes, turning from titan of coal to greenest beacon, The Yorkshire Post's exclusive short documentary goes behind the scenes to look at its story of ambition and change.
We explore how it aims to provide a future of secure power as it plans to capture carbon, remove it from the atmosphere and store it underground.
READ MORE: The Yorkshire Post's 12-page special supplement, looking at Drax's past, present and future, is now a free online page turning eMag - read it at https://bit.ly/YPDraxAt50Magazine
@DraxGroup @DraxGroupUK #BECCS #ad
We explore how it aims to provide a future of secure power as it plans to capture carbon, remove it from the atmosphere and store it underground.
READ MORE: The Yorkshire Post's 12-page special supplement, looking at Drax's past, present and future, is now a free online page turning eMag - read it at https://bit.ly/YPDraxAt50Magazine
@DraxGroup @DraxGroupUK #BECCS #ad
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NewsTranscript
00:00So the location of Drax is all about geography. This site was originally put here because
00:19of access to affordable coal, but the other important aspect of Drax's location is water.
00:26To run a power station of this size you need access to water resources, so we're located
00:30close to the River Rouse where we can take water out to cool the system and keep the
00:34plant operational.
00:36Drax Power Station used to be the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe,
00:43providing secure, reliable power for the UK, but its role has changed as the needs of the
00:50UK energy system have changed.
00:52For me, Drax and Drax's history is a story of change and transition, and when we've converted
00:59Drax from coal to biomass, it's meant that the UK's electricity grid has actually decarbonised
01:04quicker than any other electricity grid in Europe.
01:08Drax Power Station was built on the old Selby Coalfields that were discovered in the late
01:1460s, and it was the last power station to be built in the area, and it was the biggest.
01:21I came up to Drax in 1970 with Cape Insulation, and we were more or less the first ones on
01:30site to start insulating the boilers.
01:33It was amazing, job-wise, I mean at one time I believe it employed about 3,000 people.
01:41The privatisation of the then CGB, the nationalised industry that ran all of the power generation
01:47in the UK up to the end of the 80s, was a huge moment for Drax and the industry.
01:52For Drax it meant more opportunity, it meant more freedom to invest in things that made
01:57sense locally here, and ultimately it meant the opportunity to convert to biomass.
02:04From where I grew up locally, if you were on the right hill, you could see Drax Power
02:12Station, Ferrybridge Power Station, Egborough Power Station, Cotton Power Station and West
02:17Burton Power Station, and with a little bit of a drive you could even get to Ratcliffe
02:21Power Station, so coal-fired power stations were all around me when I grew up.
02:26I remember Drax coming into schools and colleges, and it's how I'd had a part to play there.
02:32A lot of people in the community are either employed directly through Drax, or work on
02:39the site, or employed through some of the supply chain and support network that goes
02:44around it.
02:45It makes a huge impact to the community around us.
02:49What I love most about my job is the idea that I'm directly involved in tackling net zero.
02:57I'm now in the innovation team, and essentially what we're doing is we're going to keep looking
03:02at new opportunities, trying to solve problems that the business has now and might face in
03:07the future, and that might be through adapting the way that we operate the plant, new technologies,
03:13or even new markets and new products.
03:16We've got another important transition that we need to enable going forward, and that's
03:21turning what is a power station that provides secure, reliable biomass power for the nation
03:26into one that can provide carbon removals too.
03:29So as the needs of the power system have changed, the role of the power station is changing,
03:35but it's got a vitally important role going forward to provide secure power and carbon removals.
03:41BEX is bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
03:44So essentially what that means is it's a new process piece of equipment that we'll be installing
03:51at the power station, which essentially takes the carbon dioxide out of the flue gas that's
03:56currently emitted, and then it stores that underground.
04:01DRAX has a really important role in pushing that power through the national grid system,
04:06making sure that it gets to the locations to keep people powered and keep the kettles
04:11boiling and keep the lights on.
04:13I'm tremendously proud that DRAX has got to its 50th anniversary.
04:17It's a key milestone for everybody who works here.
04:20We're in great shape with our conversion to sustainable biomass, and with BEX we're looking
04:25at hopefully another 50 years.
04:27BEX technology at DRAX Power Station will provide a long-term and critical future for
04:32this asset, helping to sustain jobs and growth and opportunities in this region.
04:38It'll continue to be a beacon, not just for power generation, but for decarbonisation,
04:43an emblem for how we can change the way in which we produce electricity and we keep the
04:48lights on around the country.
04:57DRAX has had a real focus on community and on building local prosperity and growth.
05:18As a result of this, there's been a key focus on skills and talent and really engaging with
05:24the next generation.
05:26That means building relationships with students of all ages and really driving the ambition
05:32and the aspirations of our local next generation.
05:36There's going to be 500,000 green energy jobs created within the next 10 years, and DRAX
05:42will obviously play a huge part and be at the forefront of a lot of those roles.
05:46The educational side of things is probably front and centre of everything that we do
05:49here.
05:50We work with schools from primary all the way up to universities.
05:53We provide funding for engineering apprenticeship, and we also provide funding for projects which
06:00deliver educational programmes directly to young people around STEM or green skills.
06:06Sudbury College is at the heart of the community.
06:08We're a general further education college.
06:11We're really committed to the whole STEM agenda.
06:15I think as a college, we're really fortunate to be in such close proximity to DRAX, and
06:20they've played a key part really in supporting us.
06:26STEM is tremendously important to us here at DRAX Power Station because we've been running
06:30for 50 years.
06:31We want to run for another potentially 50 years, and the people who are going to do
06:35that are the school children of today.
06:38STEM education is so important to enable careers in chemistry and engineering at sites like
06:44DRAX.
06:45I did the traditional A-levels of biology, chemistry and maths, and had an affinity towards
06:51the chemistry, so the diverse level of knowledge that I have now compared to 17 years ago when
06:58I started is huge.
07:01I've always lived locally to DRAX, so it's been really interesting to see how the plant's
07:05developed from living locally to working here, and then the changes that have been undertaken
07:10in the time that I've been here, with the promise of BEX hopefully in the future as
07:15well.
07:16My family moved to Yorkshire in the early 1980s, so I was lucky enough to be able to
07:21watch the north cooling towers as they were constructed.
07:24My dad also worked in the industry, so he was at DRAX, and I used to come with him occasionally,
07:31though I already had that interaction before I looked at DRAX as an employer.
07:36When I was ready to re-enter the workforce after having my second child, the job came
07:41up in my department.
07:42It was ideal.
07:44I'd worked in the energy industry myself, so I had a good understanding.
07:48I also worked with children, and the hours fitted around my family life.
07:53We have a team that delivers projects that use Lego to help develop programming skills.
07:59We interact with career sessions.
08:02We also have a partnership with Selby College, which looks at skilling, re-skilling and green
08:08skills.
08:10Selby College has got a reputation now of being at the cutting edge in terms of some
08:15of those courses that we run, particularly around carbon capture.
08:21We've been the first college in the country to develop those programmes, and that is down
08:26to DRAX and their commitment.
08:28We work closely with DRAX, and they're really enabling us to accelerate those developments,
08:35raise awareness, but more importantly, to create the workforce for the future.
08:41DRAX Power Station and its operations supports over 6,500 jobs in the Humber and Yorkshire
08:47region.
08:48That's over £350 million of added value, and one of the biggest business in our area
08:53of North Yorkshire.
08:56I think the region is rightly proud that not only do we have a really important asset that
09:00helps power the UK, but it will have an asset that can help fight climate change in the
09:05long term, helping to sustain the critical employment that we have today, long into the future.
09:31Decarbonisation clearly has to be driven by innovative thinking and new forms of technology
09:40and real innovation, and I think we're pioneering that at DRAX Power Station.
09:45Fighting climate change is really an absolute necessity so that we can continue to inhabit
09:50and enjoy the planet that we've lived on for so many years.
09:55Recognising the need to decarbonise, DRAX converted to sustainable biomass.
10:00So we still provide secure power, but now we're able to do that in a way that's sustainable.
10:07The way that we've converted this power station to operate from coal to biomass is a really
10:12important transition in technology, and I think it's something that other coal-fired
10:17power stations around the world have looked at.
10:20But what's even more compelling and what's even more exciting is the journey that will
10:23go on after that, which is converting a biomass power station to one that can take CO2 out
10:29of the atmosphere.
10:31So Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage, or BECCS as we call it here at DRAX, is actually
10:35where we capture the biogenic carbon dioxide that's coming off the flue gases, and using
10:41a process there, we can actually concentrate that up, then put it into a pipeline where
10:46it can be then transported to depleted natural gas reserves under the North Sea, where it's
10:52locked away forever.
10:54The work that DRAX does will drive the energy transition, not only for the Humber, but for
11:00the UK.
11:01For the UK, it's essential to decarbonise the Humber.
11:06We are the industrial cluster emitting the most CO2 by far.
11:10So without decarbonising Humber, then the UK will not reach net zero targets.
11:15And with the pioneering technology that we have now coming and emerging with DRAX, working
11:22in carbon capture and storage, the DRAX influence and the DRAX progress means that the Humber
11:28as a whole will be at the forefront of the UK transition.
11:37So I've been working on trying to develop a carbon capture pipeline in the Humber.
11:41This is critical technology that can help this really important industrial corridor
11:47decarbonise.
11:48And what I mean by that is, is a buried pipeline, a pipeline that will run in the first instance
11:53from DRAX power station through the Humber region to the North Sea.
11:58And it will take CO2 emissions that we can capture here at the plant through the region
12:03and store them deep under the North Sea forever.
12:05Now, the really interesting thing about the Humber is that that pipeline from DRAX to
12:11the coast will go past a number of other assets that are also looking at how they decarbonise
12:17their operations with carbon capture and storage.
12:20So this pipeline will provide a means for the whole region, particularly the industrial
12:24assets to decarbonise and have a role for this economy long into the future.
12:30At DRAX, what we're going to be doing is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and when
12:35we remove a tonne of CO2, we can convert that into a carbon credit.
12:40And those carbon credits are things that can be bought and sold on the market.
12:44So other corporates who want to decarbonise, they can look at their own carbon footprint
12:49and where they can see they've got remaining carbon emissions, they can buy a carbon credit
12:55to neutralise that carbon emission.
12:57So carbon markets are really effective ways of getting money into carbon removal projects.
13:04And at DRAX, we want to be world leaders in setting the bar high, in setting high standards
13:10and developing standards that the rest of the industry globally can follow.
13:15And happily, DRAX has real experts in carbon accounting that we can draw on so that we
13:19can develop these high integrity standards using the fabulous expertise that we've got
13:24in the company.
13:25DRAX Power Station is an international decarbonisation beacon.
13:31We are at the forefront of fighting climate change and whilst there are many projects
13:35being proposed around the world that will prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere or
13:40even help remove CO2 from the atmosphere, there's nowhere else globally that can remove
13:47as much CO2 from the atmosphere as DRAX Power Station.
13:51So for the Humber, it puts us at the forefront and very importantly, the new technologies
13:55and the learnings here can then be replicated around the world.
14:01So what BEX does is that it really helps the Humber be seen as a testbed for the energy transition.
14:08And going forward, that means that globally, we can reach net zero.
14:13This will put the UK at the centre of the global fight against climate change, helping
14:19to sustain our economy locally, having a critical national role, but showing the world that
14:25the UK is leading the way in keeping this planet in the state that we expect it to be.
14:31www.bex.gov.uk
14:33www.bex.gov.uk
14:35www.bex.gov.uk
14:37www.bex.gov.uk
14:39www.bex.gov.uk
14:41www.bex.gov.uk