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Drax Group shares rose sharply after the power company announced a partnership with Brookfield and Radiant to develop a data centre on its power station estate in North Yorkshire, in a project that could attract investment of more than £20 billion. The shares rose by around 8.5 percent on the day, as investors welcomed a deal that could transform the future of the Drax site and create a major new hub for digital infrastructure in the north of England.
Under the partnership, the companies plan to build a data centre that will draw up to 100 megawatts of power from early 2028, with a further 500 megawatts between 2028 and 2031, and ultimately more than one gigawatt. Brookfield, the investment firm, estimates that total potential investment in the project, including the computer chips and equipment inside the data centre, could exceed £20 billion. The project is subject to planning permission, regulatory and network approvals, securing a tenant and final investment decisions.
The Drax site is well suited to a data centre because it has 4 gigawatts of grid access and 2.6 gigawatts of dispatchable generation, meaning it can provide reliable power when it is needed. Data centres use large amounts of electricity to run servers and to keep them cool, and they need a secure supply. By building on an existing power station site, the project can use infrastructure that is already in place, rather than having to build it from scratch.
For Drax, the deal is a significant step in its strategy to make the most of its estate and its generation assets. The company has been moving away from coal and towards biomass and other low-carbon power, and it has been looking for new ways to use its site and its grid connections. A data centre would provide a long-term source of demand for power and could support jobs and investment in the local area.
For the wider economy, the project shows how the growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing is creating demand for new infrastructure in the UK. Data centres are becoming one of the largest sources of demand for electricity, and companies are looking for sites where they can secure power quickly and reliably. If the Drax project goes ahead, it would be one of the largest data centre developments in the country and a major boost for the north of England.
Source: Kalkine
