Ahead of the Government’s looming ban on coal-fired power in the next decade Drax is weaning itself off the black stuff. The power plant consumed more than 9bn tons of coal in 2011. Last year its coal use was just 2.7bn tons, sourced mostly from Colombian mines. In its place, Drax has imported many more billions of tons of renewable biomass pellets from US tree farms to feed its specially converted units. It now produces 70pc of its electricity from biomass – enough to power Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool – and has slashed its carbon emissions by 80pc.
Telegraph 30th Sept 2017 read more »
The Scottish Government is set to announce a ban on fracking, ending six years of fierce controversy.Ministers are putting the finishing touches to a permanent ban, replacing the moratorium they started in January 2015. This will spell the end of plans by the energy industry to frack for shale gas under swathes of central Scotland. The Sunday Herald understands that an announcement has long been pencilled in for this week, before the parliamentary recess and the SNP annual conference, but there is a small risk it may be postponed by last-minute legal complications.
Sunday Herald 1st Oct 2017 read more »
