A GOVERNMENT minister has visited Drax Power Station to find out about its innovative Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage pilot project.

Exchequer secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick MP, and a team from the Treasury met Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, for a tour around the site, near Selby.

Drax, the UK’s largest power station and Europe’s biggest decarbonisation project, has successfully converted four of its six generating units to run on sustainable biomass instead of coal, delivering carbon savings of more than 80 per cent. Its BECCS project started capturing carbon dioxide earlier this year and could transform Drax into the world’s first negative emissions power station.

A spokesperson for Drax said: “If the BECCS pilot can be scaled up to deliver negative emissions, Drax Power Station would be helping to remove the gases that cause global warming from the atmosphere at the same time as electricity is produced.”

Mr Jenrick added: “The UK is a world leader in tackling climate change, and we have reduced our reliance on carbon faster than any other G20 country since 2000.

“But we will need new, innovative technologies to further reduce our emissions. Today I’ve seen first-hand Drax’s innovative Carbon Capture project which has the potential to make an important contribution to tackling climate change in the future.”