UK’s biggest power plant to go carbon negative by 2030 but experts question if it will work

(The Independent, 11 Dec 2019) Drax in North Yorkshire plans to capture emissions and phase out coal but technology required not yet proven at large scale.

The UK’s largest power plant is planning to go carbon negative by 2030 – but experts and environmental groups have questioned whether it can be done using technology which is unproven at large scale.

Drax power station in North Yorkshire is to capture 16 million tons of carbon each year, more than enough to counteract the emissions from its generators, which run on coal and wood pellets.

Drax aims to phase out coal and has already scaled up its use of wood, or biomass, while also removing carbon from the atmosphere before compressing it and storing it under the North Sea.

But both the copmbination of technologies on which Drax wants to rely – biomass and carbon capture – is controversial.

If successful, the plan would mean Drax’s plant, which supplies 5 per cent of the UK’s power, removes more greenhouse gases than it produces each year.

“With the right negative emissions policy, we can do much more, removing millions of tons of emissions from the atmosphere each year,” said Drax chief executive Will Gardiner.

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The Independent, 11 Dec 2019: UK’s biggest power plant to go carbon negative by 2030 but experts question if it will work