The end of coal-fired power generation in Britain moved a step closer yesterday after Drax said that it was reviewing options for the remaining coal-burning units of its eponymous North Yorkshire power plant.
A series of other plant closures with more to come mean that by the end of this year coal will be burnt for electricity at only three sites in Britain, including the Drax plant near Selby.
Drax has converted most of the power station to burn biomass wood pellets that qualify for renewable energy subsidies. It has contracts to keep the remaining two coal units running until September 2022 through the government’s capacity market scheme, which offers power plant owners retainer-style contracts to ensure that the country has enough power to meet peak winter demand.
It said yesterday that it had not taken agreements to keep the units running from October 2022 and would “assess options for these assets, alongside discussions with National Grid, Ofgem and the UK government”.
As recently as 2013, coal provided the biggest share of Britain’s electricity generation, but this had fallen to only 2 per cent of supplies by last year. Ageing coal plants have been shut down because of pollution rules and the tax on emissions, which made them increasingly uneconomic to run versus subsidised renewables.
Drax had been looking at closing at least one of the coal units as part of plans to convert them both into a new gas-fired power plant. However, this has been put on hold because of a legal challenge against the government’s decision to grant planning consent for the plant.