Following the discovery of the Selby coalfield, construction of the Drax coalfired power station began nearby in 1967. The power station started generating power out of its first unit in 1974 and in 1975, following the completion of two additional generators, the site officially opened. At the time, this provided enough power for around 2 million homes, and in 1986 power generation capacity was doubled to just under 4 GW.

Once the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe, the plant is now the single largest generator of renewable power in the UK. Over the last decade four of the power station’s six generating units have been converted to use sustainable biomass, providing the UK with clean, green, and secure renewable electricity.

Following the end of the winter contingency agreement, Drax will now embark on a decommissioning process to remove coal-related infrastructure from the site, which will start with the flue gas desulphurization plant that was built in the 1990s to remove 90% of the sulphur from the plant’s air emissions.