Drax faces crucial year – Emery

THE next 12 months will prove critical to the future of electricity generator Drax, according to production director Peter Emery.

Drax has set out plans to replace as much as half the coal it burns to produce electricity with biomass but is looking to the Government for greater financial support.

Ministers are expected to set out shortly the subsidies it will make available to support renewable energy generation including from biomass.

Mr Emery said “The more we look into this and the more we engage with Government the more we are convinced biomass has a lot to offer. It is low carbon, it is low risk and it is low cost.

“We have sensed in the last 12 months that the Government is now more interested but until they come out with new numbers we won’t know how interested.

“The next 12 months will be pretty critical for the business. We will get a clearer view of the Government thinking and then decide what we are going to do.

“We are exploring what we could do, what investment would be required and looking at how long that would take.”

Mr Emery was speaking after the company unveiled first half pre-tax profits of £169m, up from £132m in the same period last year.

He said the growth in regulation designed to reduce carbon emissions meant exploring low carbon options for the future was essential if Drax is to have a long term business model.

The company was exploring other technologies, he said, such as carbon capture and storage but he did not believe these could be deployed on a commercial basis until 2020 at the earliest.