drax disambiguation . drax group type public lse drx industry electrical power generation founded 2005 headquarters drax north yorkshire england key people phil cox cbe chairman dorothy thompson chief executive products electrical power and byproducts of power product revenue 3 065.0 million 2015 1 operating income 76.0 million 2015 1 net income 56.3 million 2015 1 website www.drax.com drax group plc is a british electrical power generation company that specialises in renewable reliable affordable energy . the group is made up of upstream and downstream enterprises . the principal downstream enterprises are based in the uk and include drax power limited which runs europe s biggest biomass fuelled power station drax power station near selby in north yorkshire the uk s largest decarbonisation project as well as supplying between 7 8 per cent of the country s electricity needs . related businesses include haven power a supplier of electricity including sustainable biomass energy to business and billington bioenergy a supplier of sustainable wood pellets for domestic biomass energy systems . the group s largest upstream enterprises are drax biomass which sources sustainable biomass for drax power station and baton rouge transit which handles storage and transport of finished biomass pellets from the port of baton rouge louisiana . the company is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . contents 1 history 2 drax power station 3 decarbonisation project 4 white rose ccs 5 related enterprises 5.1 drax biomass 5.2 baton rouge transit 5.3 haven power 5.4 billington bioenergy 6 references 7 external links history edit in 1990 the electricity industry of england and wales was privatised under the electricity act 1989 . three generating companies and 12 regional electricity companies were created . as a result of privatisation drax power station came under the ownership of national power one of the newly formed generating companies . over the years that followed privatisation the map of the industry changed dramatically . one significant change was the emergence of vertically integrated companies combining generation distribution and supply interests . in certain cases it became necessary for generation assets to be divested and so in 1999 drax power station was acquired by the us based aes corporation for 1.87 billion us 3 billion . 2 a partial re financing of drax was completed in 2000 with 400 million of senior bonds being issued by aes drax holdings and 267 million of subordinated debt issued by aes drax energy . 3 increased competition over capacity and new trading arrangements contributed to a significant drop in wholesale electricity prices which hit an all time low in 2002 . many companies experienced financial problems and drax power station s major customer went into administration triggering financial difficulties for drax . following a series of standstill agreements with its creditors the aes corporation and drax parted company in august 2003 . 4 during the restructuring a number of bids were received from companies wishing to take a stake in the ownership of drax but creditors voted overwhelmingly to retain their interest in drax . in december 2003 the restructuring was completed and drax came under the ownership of a number of financial institutions . 5 almost exactly two years later on 15 december 2005 drax underwent a re financing and shares in drax group plc were listed on the london stock exchange for the first time . 6 in 2009 drax group acquired haven power 7 enabling it to sell electricity directly . in 2015 the group acquired billington bioenergy specialists in providing sustainable biomass pellets for domestic energy systems . 8 drax power station edit drax power station drax group s key asset is drax power station . originally built owned and operated by the central electricity generating board cegb drax power station was constructed and commissioned in two stages . stage one units 1 2 and 3 was completed in 1974 . 9 some 12 years later in 1986 stage two units 4 5 and 6 was completed . 9 drax was the last coal fired power station to be built in the uk and was initially designed to use low sulphur coal from the nearby selby coalfield in six generating units . each unit has a capacity of 660mw when burning coal giving a total capacity of just under 4 000m . this made drax the largest power station in the uk . 9 in 1988 drax became the first power station to invest in the retrofit of flue gas desulfurization fgd equipment making drax the cleanest coal fired power station in the uk . this removes at least 90 per cent of the sulfur dioxide so2 from emissions . through retrofitting boosted over fire air bofa technology on all the boilers emissions of oxides of nitrogen nox are being further reduced . at the same time by products of the coal combustion and fgd processes are recycled through their further use in the construction industry . 9 in 2012 drax power station completed a five year 100 million project the largest steam turbine modernisation programme in uk history upgrading its high pressure and low pressure turbines . this saves one million tonnes of co2 a year which is the equivalent of taking 275 000 cars off the road . 10 decarbonisation project edit by 2014 the conversion of the first two generating units at drax power station from burning coal to burning sustainable biomass had already resulted in carbon savings of more than 2.7 million tonnes of co2 . 11 the power station is already making carbon savings of 86 per cent compared to burning coal 12 significantly above the european commission s best practice benchmark of 70 per cent . 13 white rose ccs edit drax is leading the way in developing carbon capture and storage ccs technology . this is the uk s largest carbon capture project and has the potential to radically change the way electricity is generated all over the world by capturing co2 at the point of generation . to prove this technology works drax is building a full scale working power station along with its partners in the capture power consortium the white rose ccs demonstration project . 14 related enterprises edit drax biomass edit drax biomass specialises in producing biomass pellets to be used to generate electricity and fuel domestic heating systems by drax power station haven energy and billington bioenergy . 15 baton rouge transit edit baton rouge transit is responsible for storing and loading the biomass at the port of baton rouge and for ensuring their safe onward transportation . after being unloaded from truck or train biomass pellets are stored in the two 40 000 tonne domes at the port . from there they are loaded onto ships for transport to uk ports at kingston upon hull immingham port of tyne and liverpool . 16 haven power edit haven power is an electricity supplier and part of the drax group . the company supplies primarily to commercial and business customers . 17 billington bioenergy edit the vast majority of the uk s tens of millions of homes depend on fossil fuels for their heating mainly gas but also fuel oil . these energy sources are unsustainable have question marks over security of supply and produce more carbon dioxide emissions than sustainably sourced biomass over its lifecycle . 18 references edit a b c annual report 2015 pdf . drax group . retrieved 3 april 2016 . aes buys drax power plant . global trade news . 20 october 1999 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax gets high and mighty . ij global . 1 september 2000 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . aes withdraws support for drax restructuring . global trade news . 26 august 2003 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax creditors vote to hold on to plant . the telegraph . 11 december 2003 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax powers ahead with 2.3 bn flotation . this is money . 15 december 2003 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax group finds a haven . growth business . 6 march 2009 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax branches out into renewable heat market with wood pellet firm deal . incisive business media limited . 5 march 2015 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . a b c d drax power station . engineering timelines . retrieved 3 april 2016 . drax power station in north yorkshire completes upgrade . bbc . 19 june 2012 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . drax group annual report and accounts 2013 pdf . drax group . 18 february 2014 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . the biomass story pdf . drax group . retrieved 27 august 2015 . commission staff working document state of play on the sustainability of solid and gaseous biomass used for electricity heating and cooling in the eu page 20 pdf . european commission . 28 july 2014 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . uk to build world s first power plant with negative emissions . new scientist . 15 august 2015 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . gow david 19 march 2004 . drax goes green with willow . london the guardian . retrieved 15 august 2009 . new biomass terminal planned for port of liverpool . www.worldcoal.com . 29 june 2015 . retrieved 3 september 2015 . haven power to provide thames water with renewable energy . herald scotland . 26 may 2015 . retrieved 3 april 2016 . ipcc special report on renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation chapter 9 pdf . intergovernmental panel on climate change . may 9 2011 . retrieved 27 august 2015 . external links edit companies portal official website v t e electricity generation in yorkshire and the humber power stations biomass active drax co fires and full biomass eggborough co fires ferrybridge multifuel co fires glanford markham grange proposed future blackburn meadows brigg stallingborough coal active drax eggborough closed blackburn meadows bradford doncaster elland ferrybridge a b & c foss island huddersfield keadby kirkstall mexborough neepsend rotherham sculcoates skelton grange thornhill thorpe marsh wakefield gas active a.h. marks castleford conoco phillips east knapton glanford brigg humber energy chp immingham keadby mothballed killingholme a killingholme b salt end south humber bank thornhill hydro active settle closed linton falls proposed future linton falls incinerators waste active kirklees newlincs sheffield wheldale closed foss island proposed allerton park quarry ferrybridge multi fuel wind active humber gateway keadby royd moor out newton rusholme westermost rough proposed future dogger bank hornsea sober hill organisations drax group pre nationalisation electric power companies yorkshire electricity v t e energy in the united kingdom companies coal anglo american asia energy bhp billiton enrc glencore rio tinto uk coal oil and gas integrated bg group bp royal dutch shell exploration and production afren bhp billiton cairn energy centrica dana petroleum desire petroleum emerald energy enquest essar energy falkland oil and gas hardy oil and gas jkx oil & gas melrose resources ophir energy perenco premier oil regal petroleum rockhopper exploration soco international star energy tullow oil supply greenergy murco petroleum support abbot group amec ensco expro hunting petrofac qserv score group weir group westerngeco1 wood group utilities generation and supply integrated centrica edf energy1 e.on uk1 rwe npower1 scottish power1 sse generation drax group falck renewables horizon nuclear power1 international power vattenfall united kingdom1 vedanta resources supply the co operative energy ecotricity esb international extra energy firmus energy first utility good energy green energy loco2 energy opus energy ovo energy phoenix natural gas telecom plus distribution electricity electricity north west1 northern powergrid1 sp energy networks1 sse power distribution uk power networks1 western power distribution1 gas firmus energy national grid northern gas networks phoenix natural gas sgn wales & west utilities1 transmission electricity national grid2 scottish hydro electric transmission sp energy networks1 gas national grid other aggreko apx 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