Drax Group

For other uses of "Drax", see Drax (disambiguation).

Drax Group

Type	Public (LSE: DRX)
Industry	Electrical power generation
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Drax, North Yorkshire, England
Key people	Charles Berry, Chairman Dorothy Thompson, Chief Executive Tony Qunilan, Finance Director
Products	Electrical power and byproducts of power product
Revenue	£1,648.4 million (2010)[1]
Operating income	£277.9 million (2010)[1]
Net income	£188.4 million (2010)[1]
Website	http://www.draxgroup.plc.uk

Drax Power Station

Drax Group plc (LSE: DRX) is a British electrical power generation company. The company's principal subsidiary is Drax Power Limited, owner of the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire, the largest coal-fired power station in Europe which supplies about 7% of UK electrical consumption. The company is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index as of 22 June 2009.^[2]

History

Drax power station was built in the 1970s by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). In the privatisation and breakup of the UK power industry it was transferred to privatised generating company National Power in 1990. National Power sold Drax power station in November 1999 to AES Corporation for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion).^[3]

The plant was troubled by the fall in wholesale energy prices and the collapse of TXU Europe into administration.^[4] TXU had taken 60% of its output. AES abandoned the plant to its creditors in August 2003, leaving a total debt of around US$2 billion.^[5] BHP Billiton, International Power, RWE and E.ON were all touted as potential buyers, although all reported bids were for less than US$200 million. These offers were rejected, and the subsequent rise in energy prices meant that by late 2005 the plant's owners were receiving offers in the region of £2 billion. However, negotiations were not concluded successfully and, in September 2005, Drax Power Ltd announced that the latest bid to buy Drax had failed.^[6] On 15 December 2005 Drax Group plc floated its shares on the London Stock Exchange.^[7]

Operations

The business of Drax Group is the sale of electricity to the wholesale market as well as the sale of products of power generation such as pulverised fuel ash. The Drax power station consists of 6 units of 660 MW each. Total capacity is around 4 GW which is equivalent to roughly 5% of total installed capacity in the UK. In 2009, the company produced 22.6 TWh of electricity or some 7% of all power production in the UK. Coal is the key fuel for the company and in 2009 it burnt some 8 million tons of coal. Part of the coal is coming from domestic sources, but the majority is from overseas suppliers. Next to coal, the company uses small amounts of biomass and petcoke as fuel.

Carbon intensity

Year	Production (TWh)	Emission (Gt CO2)	kg CO2/MWh
2002	19	16.35	840
2003	26	21.64	833
2004	25	20.52	838
2005	25	20.52	830
2006	27	22.76	840
2007	27	22.5	844
2008	27	22.3	818
2009	24	19.85	815

See also: List of European power companies by carbon intensity

Supply

Drax now supplies electricity directly to the market through its subsidiary Haven Power,^[8] which the company acquired in 2009. Haven supplied some 0.7 TWh in 2009 to small and medium sized enterprises. Haven will also target the industrial and commercial market for direct electricity sales.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Annual Report 2010
2. ^ "FTSE UK Index Series Quarterly Review June 2009". FTSE Group. 10 June 2009. http://www.ftse.com/tech_notices/2009/Q2/27423_20090610_FTSE_UK_Review_June_2009.jsp. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
3. ^ National Power sells Drax plant
4. ^ TXU collapse sends shockwaves through energy industry
5. ^ AES writes off £1.8bn
6. ^ Drax rejects pounds 1.9bn US bid and goes for float
7. ^ Drax powers ahead with £2.3bn flotation
8. ^ Haven Power joins Drax Group plc

External links

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• Official website