Latest news with #Drax
The National
03-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Plans for 1500 solar panels for 8 historic hydro power stations
If the proposed plans go ahead, Drax said it would help meet the back-up power needs of the hydro sites, which currently pay to source its electricity needs from the local grid. The energy firm said that although its proposals were at an early stage, the potential impact was 'significant', according to the BBC. READ MORE: Plans for European first microchip packaging plant set for Scotland creating 300 jobs Plant manager for Drax's hydro-electric power schemes in Galloway and Lanark, Martin McGhie, confirmed its proposals to the BBC. 'By generating renewable electricity on-site, we aim to power the schemes' auxiliary systems sustainably, supporting the operation of the core power generation components at each plant,' he explained 'Although these proposals are still at an early stage and subject to final design work and planning approvals, the potential is significant. 'The solar installations could generate up to 482 MWh of clean electricity each year, enabling us to generate hydro power with solar energy, and further reinforce our commitment to renewable generation.' The hydro scheme, which provides enough energy to power more than 400,000 homes, was bought by Drax in late December 2018. The Lanark system is made up of two power stations, with one located at Bonnington near New Lanark and one at Stonebyres close to Lanark. Commissioned in 1926, the Lanark system is one of the oldest in the UK. The Galloway scheme opened nine years later and comprises six power stations at Drumjohn, Kendoon, Carsfad, Earlstoun, Glenlee and Tongland which run from north of Carsphairn to near Kirkcudbright.
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Galloway and Lanark hydro stations explore solar panel prospects
Hundreds of solar panels could be fitted to eight historic hydro power stations across the south west of energy giant Drax is exploring the option for its sites in Galloway and Lanark - some of which date back nearly 100 the plans go ahead they would meet the back-up power needs of the hydro sites which it currently pays to get from the local electricity company said that although its proposals were at an early stage the potential impact was "significant". Drax bought the hydro scheme - which provides enough energy to power more than 400,000 homes - in late December Lanark system is made up of two power stations – one at Bonnington near New Lanark and one at Stonebyres near is one of the oldest in the UK and was commissioned in Galloway scheme opened nine years later and comprises six power stations at Drumjohn, Kendoon, Carsfad, Earlstoun, Glenlee and Tongland which run from north of Carsphairn to near Kirkcudbright. Plant manager for Drax's hydro-electric power schemes in Galloway and Lanark, Martin McGhie, confirmed its proposals."By generating renewable electricity on-site, we aim to power the schemes' auxiliary systems sustainably, supporting the operation of the core power generation components at each plant," he explained"Although these proposals are still at an early stage and subject to final design work and planning approvals, the potential is significant."The solar installations could generate up to 482 MWh of clean electricity each year, enabling us to generate hydro power with solar energy, and further reinforce our commitment to renewable generation." If they go ahead, the plans would see about 1,500 solar panels installed across the eight hydro power panels would be fitted to the rooftops of the sites and be able to meet the auxiliary power needs of the facilities.
The Guardian
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Cutting down forests to feed Drax incurs a huge carbon cost
Dale Vince is right that paying the Drax power station billions of pounds to burn forests is not a coherent climate strategy (Ancient trees are shipped to the UK, then burned – using billions in 'green' subsidies. Stop this madness now, 21 June) . Labour has already said these subsidies should not continue beyond 2031 – a welcome and necessary step. Cutting down forests in Estonia, Latvia, the US and Canada is destructive to biodiversity. What's more, it makes no climate sense – for forests to recover their role as lungs that absorb carbon dioxide takes decades. Biomass, of the type Drax uses, incurs a huge carbon cost. Relying on millions of tonnes of imported wood to keep the lights on is dangerous. A strategy for energy security means investing in real, homegrown renewables – wind, solar, tidal and restoring nature to capture SobelLabour and Co-operative MP for Leeds Central and Headingley We have to remember that using Drax to burn freshly grown wood is better than burning coal and not planting any trees at all (as we merrily did last century). Drax is a stepping stone to a low carbon future and should be switched off once the alternatives are in place. I am saddened to hear that Canada is using virgin forest to supply Drax. This should be stopped by its government. There are other stepping stones that should be given consideration: 'blue options' as opposed to 'grey' or 'green' options. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is likely to be a better blue option than biomass, because the CO2 is removed immediately and not recycled into the atmosphere. However biomass is cheaper. All options need to be kept on the table, partly to avoid having all our eggs in one basket and partly to make sure we come as close as possible to a speedy, low-cost transition that we can afford. Tom BlandfordFordingbridge, Hampshire Creative accounting has always been the refuge of scoundrels. That the UK government wants to continue to book nonexistent emissions reductions through large-scale wood burning that annihilates ancient forests and use ever more taxpayer money to subsidise the scam is not only shameful, but also alarming to anyone hoping for real action on climate. At the Bonn climate negotiation meetings I recently attended, it transpired that Brazil seems intent on a big push for the bioeconomy at the upcoming COP op30 in the Amazon. It's obvious that, cloaked in platitudes about small-scale social bioeconomy measures with merit, industrial scale forest biomass energy will charge through this gateway. Burning up the biosphere as climate action is the Orwellian prospect we all Putt Former member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly At the moment, the issue of burning trees in power stations like Drax must surely be vastly overshadowed by the seasonal 'accidental' loss of established woodland by the annual return of highly energetic and polluting fires in Canada, Russia and Europe. Having their likely origin in changing weather (and therefore also climate) patterns, resulting in prolonged droughts and rising temperatures, accompanied by natural and anthropogenic ignition sources, these events are likely to be irreversible, without a dramatic universal reduction in CO2 emissions, as well as in the release of CH4 (methane, with its dramatically higher environmental damage potential) from melting permafrosts in Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine environments, and from animal CarmichaelSafenwil, Switzerland Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Scotsman
24-06-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
Power to the people
Cruachan Power Station has been supplying clean energy to hundreds of thousands of homes for 60 years and with a major upgrade will do so for many more. The hydro power station, built into Ben Cruachan, and the immense Cruachan Dam servicing it, are a marvel of engineering and awe-inspiring in scale, finds Janet Christie. Photographs by John Devlin Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Darth Vader might not be your first thought when you gaze up at Cruachan Dam in Argyll and Bute, part of the pumped-storage hydroelectric power station run by renewable energy developer Drax. But it was Cruachan's iconic buttressed concrete wall holding back the massive reservoir that attracted Disney filmmakers. Its similarity to the legendary villain's mask made Cruachan the rebel base in the Andor Star Wars prequel, released in 2022. You can see why the creatives were inspired by the dam and Ben Cruachan, rising 1,126 metres above sea level with its stunning views down over Loch Awe. A kilometre below, meanwhile, inside 'The Hollow Mountain', the turbine hall – the beating heart of Cruachan Power Station – houses vast turbines that hum night and day in a giant chamber, keeping the country's lights on. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Cruachan was also inspirational for Sir Edward MacColl, hydro power pioneer, who saw it as an ideal site for a hydro plant. It was the first of this scale in the world to manage water between the reservoir nestling in the mountain's corrie and loch below, with the station buried deep in the mountain between. Sixty years ago Cruachan Power Station was the most impressive engineering feat of its day, an ambitious project involving 4,000 people working at the site to quarry out 220,000 cubic metres of rock and soil. When complete, the Queen officially opened it on 15 October 1965. One of the tunnels 1km deep inside Ben Cruachan, 'The Hollow Mountain'. | John Devlin Today it's no less impressive, powering hundreds of thousands of homes, and still a hive of building activity as the Cruachan upgrade project continues to increase power. As work continues on an £80 million upgrade and refurbishment project at Cruachan, Plant Manager Steve Scott explains how it works and how vital Cruachan is to the country's future energy needs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We're like a big battery really,' he says. 'We have a big store of water up the hill and release that down towards Loch Awe, and in between is the power station with four turbines, generating 440 megawatts (MW). The work we're doing over the next three years will see that rise to 480 MW and give us more flexibility to get power out there to the National Grid more quickly.' Cruachan is already fast and can react to a power surge – a big football game, royal event or soap cliffhanger that sees everyone switching on their telly or kettle – within 30 seconds, and with more flexibility than wind or solar energy. Plant Manager Steve Scott | John Devlin 'We're in symbiosis with wind and solar energy,' says Steve. 'Scotland is a wonderful place for wind, and solar is coming through, but it's not always windy or sunny, so when it's dark and calm, we're here to generate electricity that people need. 'Conversely when electricity is not required we can store power from solar and wind and that can be turned on and off as the market requires. 'Cruachan was the first reversible pumped storage hydro power station of its scale in the world, so absolutely ground-breaking, and it's still run on the same principles today, whether we're pumping the water up, generating or releasing water. There's more cutting edge technology and we can start the machines quicker than in 1965 but largely it's still the same physics involved. It's fantastic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Back then they didn't have a great deal of technology, no GPS or laser lining, everything was done by hand, slide rules and genius engineering, and a herculean task was undertaken by the workers. How they did it in six years is amazing.' As well as being an engineering masterpiece, Cruachan is also a great place to visit. The Hollow Mountain Visitor Centre, a five star VisitScotland attraction, is well worth a stop on the A85 road to Oban. The centre's cafe, on the shores of Loch Awe, has some of Scotland's most scenic views in which to enjoy a scone and perhaps spot a red squirrel or osprey. There are also activities for kids and information and photographs of construction showing how it all works. The Dam and reservoir sit below Ben Cruachan, above Loch Awe in Argyll. | John Devlin All of which will whet the appetite for the return of the popular Hollow Mountain Tours. These will be available to the public again when construction of the upgrade is complete and visitors can experience once more the jawdropping visit inside the mountain to see the workings of the power station. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Everything at Cruachan in terms of hydropower is gargantuan,' explains Sarah Cameron, Scotland Community Manager. 'It's one of the few places in Scotland where you can pull up and ten minutes later be in an underground sub-tropical paradise world hiding one of the nation's most important infrastructures,' she says. Wearing a hard hat and hi-vis jacket, it's a privilege to get a one-off tour to view the working power station as the upgrade project continues. Sarah Cameron, Community Manager at Cruachan Power Station. | John Devlin Leaving daylight behind and passing through an entrance cut into the grassy side of the mountain is like entering Middle Earth. After a five-to-ten minute minibus ride down a kilometre-long tunnel burrowing into the dark granite of Ben Cruachan you're in the giant turbine hall that feeds power back out to the National Grid, 1,400 feet below the dam. It's here that the control room is situated and where the majority of the currently 40 strong workforce are toiling away. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Up on the wall of the vast chamber is something you don't expect in a power station, a massive listed work of art by Elizabeth Falconer. It was commissioned for Cruachan's opening and depicts the history of the mountain. The mural includes a portrayal of the myth of the Cailleach Bheur, a legendary old woman who was guardian of a spring on the mountain's peak, mythical precursor of today's energy source. One of the turbines inside the machine hall at Cruachan Power Station. | John Devlin Meanwhile the four massive turbines hum away, fed by four vast pipes channelling water from the reservoir above, and it's a noisy hive of activity. It's all summed up nicely by apprentice Owen Moran, a former Oban High School pupil who has worked at Cruachan for two years now, one of five apprentices on site. 'You're in awe of the engineering that's in the cavern. It's a very unusual kind of place and not something everybody gets to see. To be able to work in that on a daily basis is quite something.' Owen Moran, one of the apprentices at Cruachan Power Station. | John Devlin With activity ramped up by the upgrade on top of the 24/7 operation, Cruachan's longest-serving employee with 37 years at the site, Technical Services Co-ordinator Alison Boyce, is also busy planning the 60th anniversary celebrations. Along with a VIP event, commemorative glasses, a gin and whisky collaboration and plans for a Lego version of the dam, there's also a sense of continuity for the local community and hope for the future. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
The Guardian
21-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ancient trees are shipped to the UK, then burned – using billions in ‘green' subsidies. Stop this madness now
How green is this? We pay billions of pounds to cut down ancient forests in the US and Canada, ship the wood across the Atlantic in diesel tankers, then burn it in a Yorkshire-based power station. Welcome to the scandal of Drax, where Britain's biggest polluter gets to play climate hero. The reality is that billions in public subsidies has enabled Drax to generate electricity by burning 300m trees. Now the government is trying to force through an extension that would grant Drax an estimated £1.8bn in public subsidies on top of the £11bn it has already pocketed, keeping this circus going until at least 2031. This isn't green energy. The mathematics alone should horrify anyone who cares about value for money or the environment. Burning wood creates 18% more CO2 emissions than coal. Even if you replant every tree Drax destroys, it takes up to a century for new growth to reabsorb the carbon released. We're supposed to reach net zero by 2050, not 2125. Yet through circus-trick accounting, all of Drax's massive emissions magically disappear from Britain's climate ledger. They've simply been wished away – counted as 'zero', while the company becomes our largest single contributor to climate breakdown. Extraordinarily, this scandal unites opposition across the political spectrum. From the Greens to Reform, from the Morning Star to the Daily Telegraph, there's rare consensus that Drax represents everything wrong with our approach to climate policy. The Labour-dominated public accounts committee condemned Drax as a 'white elephant' that's been allowed to 'mark its own homework' while claiming 'billions upon billions' in subsidies. A Lords committee agreed, saying parliament needs to see key documents before approving any more funding. I don't agree with Ed Miliband on everything – we clearly have different views on nuclear power. I respect the energy secretary's commitment to tackling climate crisis, and it is worth noting that the further subsidies are half of what was previously on offer for Drax. But that's exactly why continuing to subsidise Drax at all is so disappointing. When Miliband announced his plans to 'ramp up' biomass burning back in 2009, he was genuinely trying to find alternatives to fossil fuels. But 16 years on, this policy has gone badly astray. What was meant to be a bridge to renewable energy is actually making emissions worse. If, on Monday, the House of Lords votes to extend this unabated wood burning for another four years, what is to stop these subsidies being extended again and again? And why should the government deal with a firm as untrustworthy as Drax? Perhaps most damning is what Drax refuses to reveal. After the BBC's devastating Panorama investigation into the company's destruction of Canadian primary forests, Drax asked auditor KPMG to investigate, hoping for a clean bill of health. However, the evidence was so damning that the reports are still being hidden from the public. If Drax has nothing to hide, why not publish these reports? A former top Treasury official turned whistleblower accused it of deliberately concealing unsustainable practices to secure subsidies. The case, now settled, raises questions of dishonesty that should disqualify any company from public funding. The extra billions Drax is seeking could help build enough wind and solar capacity to power millions of homes. It could create permanent jobs in genuine renewable industries, not temporary employment destroying irreplaceable ecosystems. Every pound spent subsidising tree burning is a pound not invested in technologies that could actually deliver net zero. While other countries race ahead with wind, solar and battery storage, we're burning money on the most primitive fuel known to humanity. There's a huge loophole in the government's pledge to stop Drax burning trees from primary forest. Their restrictions on Drax only apply to subsidised electricity supplied to the grid. Drax wants to power private data centres but there is no plan that prevents it from destroying ancient forests to power 21st-century AI searches. That means Drax could be cutting down even more primary forests than it does today. MPs have lost trust in the government's ability to hold Drax to account – the criticism from parliamentary committees has been brutal. The environmental movement didn't fight to establish renewable energy so politicians could facilitate the burning of ancient forests that took millennia to grow. Real climate action means making hard choices, not hiding behind accounting tricks that make our emissions disappear on paper while making them worse in reality. It is time for Labour MPs to speak up; the fight for net zero is hard enough. More subsidies for Drax's wood burning in the name of sustainability is just more fuel on that fire. Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaigner
