Drax has set out plans so as to add a 100MW knowledge centre at its energy station close to Selby, Yorkshire, positioning the mission as a part of its push to assist the rising demand for AI and wider funding in versatile and renewable vitality.
The vitality firm mentioned the information centre may very well be operational by 2027, though it careworn that particulars are nonetheless being labored via and that no planning utility has but been submitted.
A spokesperson mentioned the event would assist the corporate “contribute to the expansion of AI”, and would sit alongside Drax’s wider intention to allocate as much as £2 billion in the direction of funding in versatile and renewable vitality. The spokesperson added that additional particulars have been but to be finalised.
For Drax, the attraction is evident: knowledge centres are power-hungry services, and operators are more and more in search of websites with sturdy grid connections and the flexibility to safe giant volumes of electrical energy. However the firm remains to be within the early levels, and any timetable will depend upon the planning route, technical design and the economics of constructing and working the power.
For knowledge centre operators, siting close to a longtime supply of energy is inevitably going to be very enticing. That aligns with the UK Authorities’s push for AI Development Zones, supposed to hurry up the event of AI infrastructure by pairing websites with planning assist and quicker routes to securing energy connections – reminiscent of North Wales and Culham Campus in Oxfordshire.
The Drax plant at Selby doesn’t come fully with out controversy, nevertheless. A BBC Panorama report in 2022 claimed that a few of the biomass that was being burnt to generate energy got here from environmentally necessary forests in Canada. The company denied any wrongdoing following the report, however the BBC followed up on its story in 2024 to claim that the power plant was still using rare forest wood.
The plan comes amid persevering with scrutiny of Drax’s biomass sourcing and shifting subsidy preparations. It’s particularly necessary for the reason that Authorities signed a brand new cope with the corporate this 12 months that capped the quantity it will purchase below the Contracts for Distinction scheme, in addition to imposing stricter sustainability guidelines. These guidelines would require 100% of woody biomass to satisfy strengthened sustainability necessities, with enhanced monitoring/verification and audits.
