Drax chairman underlines commitment to sustainable power despite legal challenge

THE chairman of Drax has said the power station operator’s commitment to becoming a leading provider of sustainable power is “stronger than ever” despite its legal challenge against the Government.

At the group’s Annual General Meeting, Charles Berry spoke of the legal proceedings the group has launched against the government after it backed out of supporting one of its key projects.

Drax announced yesterday that the government had changed its mind over funding for the conversion of one of Drax’s generating units from coal to sustainable biomass.

Mr Berry said that no-one has ever converted a power station like this before and there are no “off-the-shelf” answers.

Reflecting on 2013, Mr Berry said that “not surprisingly, our biomass transformation takes centre stage.”

“The challenges Drax has faced on this journey, a journey which is not over yet, have been complex and varied,” he said.

“Becoming a leading provider of sustainable power is a group-wide effort and one we are all focused on. I started by saying that our commitment to this aim is stronger than ever,” he added.

Speaking about the government’s decision, Mr Berry said: “We don’t understand the basis for the decision as nothing has changed as far as our plans are concerned between December and now. External legal advice confirms that we’ve a good case for challenging this decision in the courts. Accordingly, proceedings have commenced.

“Whereas we’re clearly disappointed with the news, as we firmly believe that the early CfD provides a mechanism that will bring forward the delivery of substantial renewable power, we must now fully evaluate the options that are left open to us. One thing that we are certain of, however, is that our strategy to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled generator through converting initially three of our six generating units remain unchanged.”