Drax, operator of the UK’s largest wood-burning power station, wants to turn its North Yorkshire site into a £20 billion datacenter for artificial intelligence. The project remains a proposal: no technology customer has been named, no commercial agreement has been signed, and the site has been dropped from the AI growth zone bid. This analysis breaks down the numbers, the energy trade-offs and the reactions the plan has provoked.
🔑 Key takeaways
- Reference plan of 1.2 GW, with 1.1 GW supplied by Drax’s plant and 100 MW from the national grid.
- No customer, no signed memorandum of understanding and no publicly named investor so far.
- Drax is no longer considered as a site for the York and North Yorkshire AI growth zone.
- According to the NRDC, annual wood use could reach 4.9 million tonnes and emissions 8.6 million tonnes of CO2.
A £20 billion project without an identified customer
According to The Register, Drax is considering a £20 billion data centre on the site of its North Yorkshire power station. Before any construction, the project needs planning permission, government approval and, most decisively, a customer. At the time of publication, no technology company has been publicly named as a buyer or investor, and no market reaction has been reported. The project should therefore be read as a proposal, not as an authorised or financed facility.
Drax announced in October 2024 its intention to sell electricity to data centres. In February 2025, it said it was targeting a signed memorandum of understanding to open commercial talks and due diligence during the year. No such agreement was reached. The underlying goal is to extend the operating life and profitability of a plant whose future becomes uncertain after 2031, when green subsidies and support for carbon capture are in question.
A 1.2 GW capacity built in two phases
The reference plan combines 1.2 gigawatts of capacity. A first phase of 100 MW would be powered by the national grid rather than biomass. The large-scale development, 1.1 GW, would be supplied by Drax’s plant, with operation at that scale expected in 2031.
| Element | Capacity | Power source |
|---|---|---|
| First phase | 100 MW | National grid |
| Large-scale development | 1.1 GW | Drax biomass plant |
| Total reference capacity | 1.2 GW | Grid and biomass mix, 2031 horizon |
Drax plans to submit the proposal to planning authorities in the coming months and believes a first phase could be operational before the end of the decade if approvals are granted. In December 2025, the company asked North Yorkshire Council to waive the requirement for an environmental impact assessment for that initial phase. The two scales must be kept apart: the 1.2 GW figure cited by The Register and the 1.1 GW calculated by environmental groups refer to the 2030s build-out, not to the 100 MW grid-fed phase.
A new subsidy contract signed in 2025 covers 2027 to 2031. It halves the level of subsidised generation and requires Drax to seek permission before supplying biomass electricity to a data centre. Biofuelwatch puts the annual subsidy at up to £999 million and says the arrangement limits subsidised operation to 27% of capacity.
“We will assess the request on security of supply, value for money and sustainability matters.”
Michael Shanks, UK Energy Minister
A Drax spokesperson countered that the company’s data centre plans “have never relied on the bid’s success”, pointing to existing infrastructure on the site and its grid connections.
The growth-zone setback
The AI growth zone programme, launched in April 2025, aims to unlock investment in AI-enabled data centres and supporting infrastructure. Five zones were announced: two in England, two in Wales and one in Scotland. The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority bid alongside Drax and the University of York. In June 2025, David Skaith, mayor of York and North Yorkshire, promised that a zone there would “pave the way to the world’s first carbon-negative data centre” through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
That vision did not materialise. In an August letter to students opposing the university’s involvement, vice-president Sarah Thompson wrote that “Drax is no longer under consideration as a site for the growth zone”. According to the Cabinet Office, published criteria include “credible plans for energy delivery, environmental considerations, and local economic benefit”, with each bid assessed on its own merits.
Biomass, emissions and carbon accounting
In 2025 the plant burned 7,739,645 tonnes of wood, produced 15 million MWh of electricity and released 14 million tonnes of CO2, according to annual results cited by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Around five million tonnes of pellets a year would come from the United States, and four storage domes on site can each hold 80,000 tonnes.
Under UK carbon-accounting rules, emissions from burning wood are counted as zero, on the assumption that regrowing trees will reabsorb the carbon. Drax therefore describes its electricity as carbon neutral and could claim a negative balance if it installed carbon capture. The Land and Climate Review notes that investigative journalism has linked some of its fuel to environmentally important forests. In 2024, Drax agreed a £25 million penalty with the regulator Ofgem after failing to disclose wood sourced from old-growth primary forest in Canada.
| Indicator | NRDC assumption | Estimated result |
|---|---|---|
| Annual electricity | 1.1 GW for 8,760 hours | 9,636,000 MWh |
| CO2 emissions | 0.9 million tonnes of CO2 per MWh | 8.6 million tonnes per year |
| Wood consumption | 0.515 tonne per MWh | 4.9 million tonnes per year |
The NRDC says it rounded the emissions rate downward, so the real figure could be higher. It estimates annual emissions at almost twice those from every flight departing London Gatwick Airport. The group also considers burning wood dirtier per unit of electricity than gas, and notes that 315 data centre projects are waiting to connect to the grid.
“This would be one of the dirtiest data centers out there. The climate crisis is running on today’s emissions, not a century-long IOU.”
Matt Williams, forest advocate, NRDC
Local opposition and expert debate
A petition organised by Global Action Plan, Biofuelwatch and the Stop Burning Trees Coalition asks Kanishka Narayan, Minister for Artificial Intelligence, and Miatta Fahnbullah, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, to reject Drax’s bid. It argues that data centre demand must not “prop up dirty polluting tree-burning power stations”. Local councillor Arnold Warneken says that “definite concern” is replacing the former box-ticking approach to planning questions.
Ketan Joshi, an energy analyst who studies the climate impact of AI, calls the proposal a “unique example” of a power company planning a data centre before securing interest from a technology firm. He notes that utility-scale wind or solar projects can be built in five years and questions the business logic of waiting until the 2030s. Labour MP Chris Hinchliff, a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, is equally critical.
“Drax spent years defending a subsidy-dependent biomass model with lamentable environmental impacts. Now it’s betting on enormous water and power-hungry AI data centres to keep the show on the road.”
Chris Hinchliff, Labour MP
Biofuelwatch says data-centre electricity consumption is growing 15 to 30 percent a year and cites an International Energy Agency forecast that it could double by 2030. The Institute for Public Policy Research warns that AI could threaten up to eight million jobs. Public comments on Quora, which reflect individual opinions rather than an institutional assessment, remain mixed.
Conclusion: a project with three conditions
Drax’s plan rests on three cumulative conditions: a technology customer willing to sign a long-term contract, planning and government approvals, and environmental acceptability that remains uncertain. In a favourable scenario, the 100 MW grid-fed phase could be built before 2030, while the 1.1 GW extension would depend on a commercial agreement and a decision on biomass subsidies.
Conversely, the absence of a customer, the exclusion from the growth zone and the need for ministerial approval to sell biomass electricity to a data centre could delay or abandon the project. Investors and observers should track the planning filing, the response of North Yorkshire Council and any memorandum of understanding signed with a hyperscale operator.
Sources
- The Register, Drax datacenter proposal (November 2026)
- NRDC, emissions and wood consumption analysis
- Stop Drax petition, Action Network
- The Land and Climate Review, Drax growth zone
- Biofuelwatch, Drax and data centres
- Quora, public discussion of the project
Cet article est publié à titre informatif et éducatif. Il ne constitue en aucun cas un conseil en investissement. Faites vos propres recherches (DYOR) avant toute décision.
