Last year, Drax announced plans to drop its remaining coal-fired generators in 2021 after 50 years in operation as part of efforts to lower its carbon emissions.
It originally planned to replace them with gas-fired generators but ultimately dropped that plan, too, following backlash from environmental campaigners. It then delayed the closures to September 2022, with plans to convert the generators to biomass instead.
Speaking to the FT, the company’s chief executive Will Gardiner said that the ongoing energy crisis places the UK in a tough position going into the winter, but that his firm’s coal plant could help to fill some of the gap before it finally closes.
Gas prices have recently reached record highs due to a number of factors including rising global demand as economies start opening due to the ease in Covid-19 restrictions; a cold winter last year which depleted gas reserves, and a reduction in gas supplies from Russia to central Europe. Wholesale...