Drax Power Station contributes £358m to regional GDP in Yorkshire and the Humber according to new research.
A study by Oxford Economics consultants is said to demonstrate the key role the power station plays in the economies of Selby and Ainsty, Yorkshire and the Humber and the UK.
The report, using data from 2021, shows that the North Yorkshire site and its supply chain, contributed £735m to UK GDP. It also supported 7,130 jobs across the country and delivered a total contribution of £154m in taxes to the UK.
The research also found that in the constituency of Selby and Ainsty, 901 people were directly employed by the power station, a further 290 jobs were supported and it contributed £278m to local GDP.
Across Yorkshire and the Humber, the combined impact of Drax Power Station was £358m with 2,580 jobs supported.
The power station is the largest dispatchable renewable power station in the UK and across its four biomass units it can supply enough power for the equivalent of five million homes. In March this year, almost 50 years of coal generation ended at Drax Power Station.
Between October 2021 and 2022, Drax Group generated 11% of the UK’s renewable electricity. In addition, the business produced on average 19% of the UK’s renewables at times of peak demand and up to 70% on certain days.
Richard Gwilliam, UK BECCS Programme Director at Drax Group, said: “This research underscores the critical role that Drax Power Station plays regionally and nationally. In Yorkshire and the Humber, our power station has created thousands of jobs and contributed hundreds of millions of pounds to the area’s GDP while helping maintain energy security.
“We have been generating power at our North Yorkshire site for nearly 50 years and we hope to do so long into the future through the development of our bioenergy with carbon capture and storage plans.”
