The UK Government has recently given the green light for Drax’s project to install carbon capture technology at the North Yorkshire site. This prominent establishment provides the country with the most significant chunk of electricity. The place accommodating the largest power station in the UK has soon received a new lease of life, and other improvements and developments are on the radar for the company to realise.
Among the permissions received, some target and allow the installation of equipment tailored to catch the carbon emitted at the plant, whose practice of collecting and burning wood pellets to generate those high amounts of electricity raised concerns and brought about much controversy. Furthermore, the bill-payers are expected and subject to paying hefty amounts of money, equalling around £40bn – a large enough sum to have the audience’s eyebrows raised with perplexity.
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Drax Power Station: a short history of the leading electricity producer
The UK Government has just given the O.K. to the largest electricity producer, but it isn’t the first such achievement to be marked on behalf of the company. Throughout time, what was then a coal-fired power station turned out to reach its maximum potential through numerous developments and implementations, which is why getting a quick recap of Drax’s historical development steps will help further understand the enormity of the freshly approved project.
Drax, the supreme power producer in the UK, was conceived in 1967 at the newly-found Selby coalfield with the same purpose before its capacity expanded, standing at 3,000MW. In 1986, Drax doubled in capacity and size to a value of just a little under 4 GW, surpassing any other power station in the country in both capacity and size. Two years later, it’s acclaimed as the first power station to buy equipment for retrofitted flue gas desulphurisation.
Strides towards cleaner emissions associated with the company were made - in 1995, after eliminating 90% of sulphur dioxide emissions, Drax became the country’s most efficient, cleanest, and largest coal-fired power plant. Some documents go as far as claiming it is the top company in the world to meet the recently mentioned criteria.
Even if the problem of climate change and pollution weren’t as drastically articulated as they are today, forward-looking companies, knowing that their real impact will cost them and the subsequent generations significantly, started to approach all sorts of technology and strategies to reduce their environmental impact. Today, an injection moulding company using renewable resources and sustainable energy to power its operations may not take you aback. Still, such strategies and levels of awareness haven’t always been this widespread. Conscious, well-intended companies determined to crush the competition and achieve long-term success were the first to fuel their operations with sustainable energy and use recycled materials, among other environmentally mindful practices.
Drax is free to navigate the carbon capture tech sector
Drax, the renewable generating station located in the proximity of Selby, North Yorkshire, is demonstrating a commitment to decrease the CO2 emissions released from generating electricity to the network. It has just been allowed to fit carbon capture tech equipment to the wood-burning power station to diminish their environmental impact, setting the bar relatively high for other energy-generating companies and bill-payers.
The project is estimated to wipe off more than £40bn from bill-payers’ wallets. Claire Coutinho, the state’s energy secretary, has validated the initiative of converting two of the biomass units to put the technology to use.
According to analysts’ thorough research, the revamp of the overhaul at the North Yorkshire site may be the costliest energy project worldwide to date. Furthermore, if Drax succeeds in converting all four of its biomass units to use carbon capture tech equipment, the undertaking could further increase the annual energy bills by £1.7bn.
The government might come up with a subsidy scheme
The government might develop and present a profitable bill-payer-backed subsidy strategy. The same scheme paid the company over £600m to keep burning trees to generate electricity until 2030 – a decision not aligning with environmentalists’ goals. The move is expected to irritate nature lovers and eco-activists, who call for sustainable practices in many areas, from structural foam moulding to product packaging to product transporting. These activists have already expressed resistance and objections towards burning imported wood pellets for energy and calling out on the shoddily costly subsidies paid to the company since 2012.
The last coal lump burned in 2021
Once a coal power plant, the station transitioned to a wood burner and consumer of other biomass during the 2010s and used the last coal lump three years ago. Theoretically, the move should generate highly-recalled carbon-neutral energy, as the algae, trees, and other plants used to produce high-pressure steam and create energy generate plenty of carbon into the atmosphere. Thus, the carbon the trees absorb is released back into the air.
Critics state the opposite and suggest that the company only employs sustainable wood in boilers. Furthermore, UK broadcasting corporations like BBC added that the giant has consumed wood from forests of high environmental significance at the plant.
The system’s adherents support a completely different theory. Assuming to them, the company’s usage of the carbon capture systems could turn the energy generation processes into carbon adsorbents instead of releasers, should things go as planned. The explanation is straightforward: the trees take in the carbon before being carbonised, after which the carbon emitted through the practice would be caught and possibly buried underground instead of just being freed in the atmosphere.
8mn tonnes of CO2 to be wiped out yearly.
The company’s statements provide insights and a larger picture of what the future will look like after successfully implementing the carbon capture technology. According to the heavyweight energy producer reps, the government’s approval pushes a new milestone for the energy-producing sector. It brings goals of meeting Net Zero targets closer to accomplishment.
Drax states that 8mn tonnes of CO2 could be removed yearly when the system is entirely operational. This amount would translate to around 1.6% of the total emissions generated in the UK over the last year.
