Drax completes $35m Louisiana Pellets acquisition
Drax has completed the acquisition of the assets of Louisiana Pellets following a court hearing to approve the result of an auction last month.
The power station participated in a bankruptcy auction on March 30 for the acquisition of both Louisiana Pellets and Texas Pellets – the latter auction was postponed.
US-based Louisiana Pellets, which Drax acquired for $35.4m, will provide additional biomass pellet capacity in the region of 450k tonnes a year, playing an important part in Drax’s strategy to build a flexible supply chain capable of self-supplying 30% of its generation requirement.
The plant is expected to return to service by early 2018 following incremental investment to upgrade and optimise the facility.
Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax Group, said: “Louisiana Pellets marks another positive step in delivering the Drax Group strategy.
“The deal forms part of our plan to significantly increase our capability to manufacture high quality compressed wood pellets and increase self-supply to Drax Power Station.
“Upgrading half the Power Station to use sustainable wood pellets has resulted in Drax producing 16% of the UK’s renewable electricity and with the right conditions we aim to do more.”
