Plans being prepared for Drax data centre near Selby

The energy company has announced in a trading update that it would seek to build the centre at its 1,000 acre site at Drax Power Station.

The site has 4GW of capacity and grid access, 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation, cooling systems, and proximity to the UK fibre network.

The trading update said: “Drax is considering a range of options for the site which could utilise its existing land, grid access, active generation, cooling solutions, site security, location and skilled workforce to meet the needs of data centre developers.

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“Drax is preparing a planning application to support the potential option for a first phase data centre of c.100MW on land identified at Drax Power Station, using existing infrastructure and transformers previously used to support coal generation to import power directly from the grid (front-of-the-meter). This could support the operation of a data centre at Drax Power Station as soon as 2027.”

Drax has already signed a deal with central government about making power from biomass woodchips.

The update continued: “The agreement includes a mechanism for Drax to request up to 500MW to power a data centre during this period. This is subject to agreement with the UK Government, taking into account a number of factors, including value for money for consumers, energy security, and sustainability.”

It added: “In the long term Drax is assessing options for over 1GW of data centre capacity, which is expected to utilise existing generation capabilities at Drax Power Station to provide a distributed (behind-the-meter) energy solution with around-the-clock renewable power directly to a data centre under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement, subject to necessary consents.

“Any decision to develop data centres at Drax Power Station will require a full assessment of the capital cost and investment case as well as establishment of the commercial and development structures, including joint ventures.”