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UK’s most polluting power plant could power country’s largest AI datacentre

Britain’s most polluting power plant could soon power the country’s largest datacentre under a £20bn deal to build AI infrastructure on the site of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire. The power plant’s FTSE 250 owner has struck a deal with the infrastructure investor Brookfield and ⁠and the AI infrastructure platform Radiant to develop a datacentre with an eventual capacity of more than 1 gigawatt that could begin operations by early 2028. In the initial phase of the project Drax will provide the datacentre…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourceEvidence: Emerging · 42/100 — News report · 1 independent sourceJournalismTRV-2026-2350· cite & verify
UK’s most polluting power plant could power country’s largest AI datacentre

In brief

Drax, the owner of Britain's largest power station in North Yorkshire, has struck a deal with Brookfield and Radiant to develop a datacentre of more than 1 gigawatt on its site. A first phase of up to 100MW of compute capacity could be running by early 2028, using land and existing grid connections.

The plan matters because Drax faces reduced government subsidies and a more limited future role, so the project is pitched as securing its revenues and jobs. Whether the site can be powered directly, and how a wave of datacentres can be supplied without polluting gas generation, remains unresolved.

Main points

  1. The deal with Brookfield and Radiant could bring more than £20bn of investment and a datacentre above 1 gigawatt.
  2. Phase one would offer up to 100MW of compute capacity from the first quarter of 2028.
  3. Drax hopes to power the datacentre directly by the early 2030s, pending regulatory approvals before 2031.
  4. Drax's subsidies are set to halve from 2027 to 2031 after concerns about its sustainability claims.
  5. Drax's market value rose almost 9% to nearly £3bn on the news.

The problem

A rush of datacentre building on a congested UK grid with binding climate targets raises questions about relying on expensive, polluting off-grid gas generation.

The rundown

Drax produces almost 5% of UK electricity by burning woody biomass pellets and is described by analysts as the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Its emissions are not counted by the government because Drax says growing trees absorb the equivalent carbon.

Ministers promised that Drax would play a much more limited role in future, and it will receive only half of its current £2m a day subsidies from 2027 to 2031. Chief executive Will Gardiner framed the project as supporting the north's reindustrialisation and sovereign AI capability.

The deal came a week after the government published a draft national policy statement calling datacentres as fundamental to the economy as railways and electricity networks.

Sources

  1. JournalismThe Guardian2026-11-03

The debate