Drax’s flexible and renewable generation business recorded £446m in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2020, a 9% increase on its 2019 results.
Biomass generation rose by 5% to 14.1 terawatt-hours compared with 13.4TWh in 2019.
Earnings from system support to National Grid ESO in the UK (balancing mechanism, ancillary services and optimisation) reached £118m, a decrease of £2m against 2019.
Drax has also taken the decision to drop plans to build a gas fired power plant in North Yorkshire.
ClientEarth took the UK Government to court over its decision to approve a 3.6GW gas plant in Selby, which came to a head in a Court of Appeal ruling last month.
“Today Drax confirmed that it will no longer proceed with the plans, but it will continue to focus on what it calls ‘renewable’ biomass generation, created by burning huge volumes of wood pellets for energy, prompting serious climate and biodiversity concerns,” ClientEarth stated.
ClientEarth lawyer Sam Hunter Jones said: “In opposing this controversial project since its inception, we warned that it risked the UK’s net zero target and risked locking in huge long-term subsidies. And the Government’s planning authority agreed when it recommended refusing planning consent.
“Just as the coal era is long gone, what Drax’s statement today makes clear is that time is up for building any new large scale gas power plants in the UK.
“However, we need to see Drax embrace truly low-carbon and sustainable energy, rather than continuing to bet big on unsustainable biomass.”
“Drax relies on an outdated loophole to burn giant volumes of high carbon wood using billions of pounds in subsidies and without paying carbon taxes.
“And its claims of sustainability are at odds with the reality of the carbon cycle as well as forest and biodiversity loss.”