A MULTIMILLION-POUND fine handed to power station operator Drax is no more than a “drop in the ocean” compared with the billions that the company is demanding in new subsidies, campaigners said today.
Drax, whose plant in North Yorkshire is Britain’s largest carbon emitter, receives government subsidies for burning biomass wood chips, a fuel source that it claims is “carbon neutral.”
But energy watchdog Ofgem fined the firm £25 million after it failed to accurately report the type of wood it uses and whether it is sustainable.
The regulator found “an absence of adequate data governance and controls in place” when it came to recording wood imported from Canada between April 2021 and March 2022.
A BBC investigation found in 2022 that the Canadian wood came from environmentally important forests.
Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) senior advocate Matt Williams said: “This ruling shows how difficult it is to prove that burning wood from forests is good for the environment.
“There’s one simple reason for that — it isn’t.
“The £25m fine Drax have volunteered to pay is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions they’re asking for in new subsidies.”
A spokesperson for Relcaim the Power said: “This fine, although large, is just a cost of business for the worlds biggest tree burning power station.
“They have now been fined millions across at least two continents, but this pales in comparison to their £2m a day subsidy from UK bill payers and £1 billion in profits.
“Ed Miliband faces an imminent decision to grant decades more subsidies for Drax, and must stop the funding to this dodgy business and support a worker-led transition from Drax.”
Drax currently receives around £1.7m a day in state support.
Over 40 green groups have written to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband urging him to scrap that.
Drax Group chief executive Will Gardiner said: “Although Ofgem has noted there is no evidence to suggest Drax deliberately misreported its profiling data, we recognise the importance of maintaining a strong evidence base and are continuing to invest to improve confidence in our future reporting.”
