Drax Power Station
Drax is a large coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, England, capable of co-firing biomass and petcoke. It is situated near the River Ouse between Selby and Goole, and its name comes from the nearby village of Drax. Its generating capacity of 3,960 megawatts is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, providing about 7% of the United Kingdom's electricity supply.
Opened in 1974 and extended in the mid-1980s, the station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but since privatisation in 1990 the station has changed owner several times, and is currently operated by Drax Group plc. Completed in 1986, Drax is the most recently built coal-fired power station in England, and by implementing technologies such as flue gas desulphurisation, is one of the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power stations in the UK. However, because of its large size, it is also the UK's single largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
In an attempt to reduce these emissions, the station is currently (c.2010) co-firing biomass and underwent a turbine refurbishment between 2007 and 2012. In 2012 the company announced plans to convert up to three generating units to solely biomass fired power.
Read more about Drax Power Station: History, Design and Specification, Electricity Generation, Environmental Effects, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words power and/or station:
“It feels good because God has power and if one does as God does enough times, one will become as God is.”
—Michael Mann, U.S. screenwriter. Hannibal Lechtor (Brian Cox)
“Say first, of God above, or Man below,
What can we reason, but from what we know?
Of Man what see we, but his station here,
From which to reason, or to which refer?
Thro’ worlds unnumber’d tho’ the God be known,
‘Tis ours to trace him only in our own.
”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)