Drax Power completes £40mn agreement with Siemens

The Germany-based conglomerate company, Siemens, has agreed a £40mn deal with Drax Power to enhance turbines on three of its biomass units in England, Hull Live reports.

The move comes after Drax decided to run on wood pellets instead of coal in a move to reduce the cost of biomass electricity production at the facility.

“We firmly believe that biomass has a long-term role to play in the UK’s energy infrastructure,” said Andy Koss, CEO of Drax Power.

“We’re looking at a number of ways to bring down the costs of our biomass generation – and these turbine upgrades are an important part of that work.”

The deal will last for three years and it is expected that one biomass unit will be upgraded each year with the view of enhancing the effectiveness of renewable energy production.

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“Siemens and Drax have a long-standing and proud partnership so it’s fantastic that we will now help them further develop their biomass solution,” said Darren Davidson, managing director of power generation services, power and gas at Siemens.

“Once delivered, this project will improve plant efficiency and flexibility and provide a further source of low carbon power to UK homes, businesses and services.”

Drax has currently invested approximately £700mn in converting power stations to run on biomass with the latest stage thought to be finished by the end of 2018.