French Journalists visit Drax's Biomass Facility

Leading journalists from France took part in a visit to Drax, the 4,000 MW Power Station in North Yorkshire that supplies 7% of the UK's electricity, on 9 December to see first-hand how the station is leading the way in environmental technology. Alstom recently constructed the main processing works for the 1.5 million tonnes (per year) biomass co-firing facility at the plant with a massive potential reduction of the plant’s net carbon output by at least two and a half million tonnes per annum.

The trip was organised by Yorkshire Forward, a Government initiative and one of the largest Regional Development Agencies and UK Trade and Investment, who took the opportunity to showcase economic development in the Yorkshire and Humber region as well as to attract further investment.  

For the 11 journalists, Drax was their last stop on a whistle-stop tour of some of the regions businesses between 7-9 December, which also included ITM Power, Tata Steel (Corus) and Associated British Ports (ABP) and Able UK.  Major newspapers, such as La Tribune, the most popular paper in France, were represented on the tour alongside journalists from specialist publications like Environment and Technique.  

At Drax, the visit began with a presentation of the biomass co-firing facility and an overview of the project.  Following this, Stephen Burgin, UK Country President and Head of Power, delivered an introduction to Alstom in the UK, after which, the delegation were treated to a narrated animation of the processing works.  A bus tour of the impressive facility completed the visit, which was well received by the delegation.  

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