Public consultation for Drax's coal to gas power plans

Drax wants to switch from coal-fired power generation to gas at its site near Selby

Plans for a gas-fired power and battery facility at a UK power plant have gone out to public consultation.

Drax said it wanted to switch from coal-fired power generation to gas.

It notified the planning inspectorate in September about its intention to upgrade two of its coal-fired units and build a 200-megawatt battery storage at its site near Selby, North Yorkshire.

Last year, the government said it wanted to phase out coal power by 2025 in a bid to cut carbon emissions.

More than half of Drax's current output is from biomass after it switched three of its units to burning eco-friendly wood pellets in 2013.

Under the proposals, the power station said it would create a 3.6 gigawatt gas generation system and a new gas pipeline for electricity to be exported to the National Grid.

The power station uses about seven million tonnes of biomass pellets a year, imported from the USA

Drax CEO Andy Koss said the plans could secure the future of the plant beyond 2025.

"This is the start of the planning process but if developed these options for gas and battery storage show how we could upgrade our existing infrastructure to provide capacity, stability and essential grid services, as we do with biomass," he added.

"This would continue to keep costs low for consumers and help to deliver the government's commitment to remove coal from the UK grid."

The company said it had ambitions to "make Yorkshire the home of large scale battery technology".

Coal currently accounts for around 30% of UK power generation.

People living in Drax, Selby and Goole have until Saturday to view the proposals.