Drax
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Drax is a large coal-fired power station located near Selby in North Yorkshire in Northern England. It is named after the parish of Drax.
The plant has six 660 MW generating units, with a maximum capacity of 3,870 MW, producing around 24 TWhr (86.4 petajoules) annually. It is the largest single electricity generator in the United Kingdom, producing around 8% of total demand, and the second largest coal-fired plant in Europe. It has a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day, it takes around 7 million to 11 million tonnes annually, mostly from UK Coal, and generates around 1.5 million tonnes of ash each year.
Built by the Central Electricity Generating Board to be near the newly discovered Selby coalfields, Drax was the last coal-fired plant to be built in Britain. It began generation in 1974 and all six units were online by 1986. The boilers were constructed by Babcock Power Ltd and the generators by Parsons. The plant was fitted with FGD (Flue gas desulfurization) scrubbers over eight years from 1988 by Mitsui-Babcock.
In November 1999, AES Corporation bought Drax from National Power for around US$3 billion. The US company abandoned the plant to its creditors in August 2003, leaving a total debt of around US$2 billion. The plant was troubled by the fall in wholesale energy prices and the collapse of TXU Europe, which took 60% of its output, into administration. BHP Billiton, International Power, RWE and E.ON were all touted as potential buyers, although all reported bids were for less than US$200 million. These offers were rejected, and the subsequent rise in energy prices meant that by late 2005 the plant's owners were receiving offers in the region of £2 billion. Negotiations were not concluded successfully, however, and on 23 November Drax Power Ltd announced that the latest bid to buy Drax had failed. On 15 December 2005 Drax Power Ltd floated its shares on the London Stock Exchange.
Environmental effects
In 2005 Drax produced 20.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Times reports this is more than that produced by 103 nations and compares to 91 million tonnes of carbon dioxide produced by vehicles in the UK. [link]See also
External link
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