Drax said the development could attract more than 20 billion pounds ($26.8bn) in investment and represent the next chapter for the former power plant after ministers signalled plans to limit its power generation in the future. The Drax chief executive, Will Gardiner, said the project would help secure the long-term future of the site and protect hundreds of jobs while supporting the north's reindustrialisation and strengthening sovereign AI capability.
The largest power plant in the UK produces almost 5% of the country's electricity by burning woody biomass pellets, making the site the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide, according to analysts. These emissions are not accounted for by the UK government because Drax claims the equivalent carbon emissions are absorbed by growing trees that provide the waste wood used to make the biomass pellets.
The government promised that Drax would play a much more limited role in future after growing concerns over the company's sustainability claims, and will have access to only half its current 2 million pounds a day subsidies from 2027 to 2031. The company hopes to clear the regulatory approvals needed to begin supplying the datacentre directly before 2031 to secure its future revenues.
The deal has emerged a week after the government published a draft national policy statement on datacentres, which said they were as fundamental to our economy as the railways and electricity networks on which we have long depended. The government said the country must take control over the development of datacentres and ensure that the country and host communities benefit from them.
However, the UK's congested grid infrastructure and ambitious legally binding climate targets have raised questions over how a dash to build datacentres could be powered without relying heavily on expensive and polluting off-grid gas generation.