Pendragon and Drax Power target renewable power

21st Apr

Manchester-based energy specialist Pendragon PR has won its fourth major account this year, adding the electricity generating giant Drax Power Limited ("Drax") to its other wins, Scottish Power, Irish utilities group ESB International and carbon capture and storage company CO2DeepStore.

Drax has proposals to develop three dedicated renewable energy plants in the UK over the next few years and Pendragon has been contracted to add stakeholder communications expertise and to assist Drax with the planning consent process for the new developments. The three 300MW biomass-fired plants will each be capable of supplying green electricity to around 530,000 homes.

“The UK has a signed up to a target to generate up to 35% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020,” commented Alex Doyle, managing director at Pendragon. “We will be assisting Drax to ensure that their £2bn investment proposal for renewable energy plants become a reality over the next few years.”

Dorothy Thompson, chief executive at Drax, explained: “Our venture into dedicated biomass-fired electricity generation underpins our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of UK electricity production.”

Drax Power Limited is the operating subsidiary of Drax Group plc, and the owner and operator of Drax Power Station, the largest, cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power station in the UK, which generates enough electricity to meet the needs of around 7% of the UK.

The existing power station has been burning a proportion of renewable biomass fuel alongside coal for a number of years and Drax is currently building an additional co-firing facility to increase the capacity for co-firing to 500MW, or 12.5% of the total output. This will make Drax Power Station the largest co-firing project in the world, saving over two-and-a-half million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, through the displacement of conventional fossil fuels.

Drax is also undertaking the largest steam turbine modernisation project in UK history at Drax Power Station, which will increase the power station’s efficiency and save an additional one million tonnes of CO2 a year.

Pendragon is staffed by consultants who have expertise and backgrounds in the energy sector. Established by Alex Doyle in 1989, the company is currently also working with renewable energy company Infinergy on a 59-turbine 177MW wind farm on the Glenfiddich Estate in Moray, Scotland, US energy from waste outfit Covanta and international power company InterGen as it seeks to expand its gas-fired power station in Spalding, Lincolnshire.

For more information please visit www.pendragon-pr.co.uk or call Alex Doyle on 0161 288 2888.