Drax carbon capture and AI is now in the news as Artificial Intelligence use is directly responsible for carbon emissions from non-
renewable electricity and for the consumption of millions of gallons of fresh water. It also indirectly boosts impacts from building and maintaining the power-hungry equipment on which A.I. runs, as Yale Environment 360 reports.
Last May the BBC News web site reported that….”The world’s data centres are using ever more electricity, external. In 2022, they gobbled up 460 terawatt hours of electricity, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects, external this to double in just four years. Data centres could be using a total of 1,000 terawatts hours annually by 2026. “This demand is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan,” says the IEA. Japan has a population of 125 million people…..”
No surprise then that according to The Yorkshire Post, bosses at Drax power station, near Selby are considering using two of their biomass generators to power a data centre in the next decade.
We recently reported that the government would continue to subsidise the wood burning plant at a reduced rate from 2027 to 2031 rather than end the subsidies altogether as was being called for by many environmentalists and camping groups. Now The Yorkshire Post reveals that from 2031 Drax, “hopes to have bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) installed linking it to two of its four generating units.” This will free up capacity as it will only pump into the grid when needed, giving precedent to solar and wind when available.
With the government dash for growth and support for carbon capture, it is likely to support such action. However, many believe that this technology, although much favoured and promoted by oil and gas companies, is still largely unproven, the costs are uncertain and will not be ready in time to save the climate see as Zero Carbon Analytics reports.
Drax is likely to make a further announcement on their plans shortly.