Approval for Drax gas conversion plans

The Government has approved plans to convert units at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to gas power, despite a recommendation from the Planning Inspectorate that consent should be withheld.Two of the coal-fired generating units (known as Units 5 and 6) at the power station can now be modified to become gas-powered generating units.The project comprises up to four new combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT), each powering a dedicated generator of up to 600MW in capacity.The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by Drax Power Ltd on the 29 May 2018 and accepted for examination on 26 June 2018.Following an examination during which the public, statutory consultees and interested parties were given the opportunity to give evidence, a recommendation was made to the secretary of state on 4 July 2019 to withhold approval.However, Andrea Leadsom, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, has now granted development consent.Drax now plans to secure a capacity market agreement to underpin the investment needed to develop the first combined cycle generating unit. If developed, 1.8GW of new capacity would be available at Drax from October 2023.