Drax Power Station, a major UK electricity generator, has been found to have misreported its wood source data for the second time in a row. Despite receiving billions of pounds in government subsidies for burning wood pellets, classified as renewable energy, the company failed to declare that it sourced wood from primary forests in Canada. This misreporting has not been addressed by the energy regulator Ofgem, who previously fined Drax £25 million for similar data inaccuracies.
A UK power station that has received billions of pounds in government subsidies has failed more than once to report it burned wood from primary forests, BBC News has found.
The power station, a converted coal plant in North Yorkshire, generates approximately 6% of the UK's electricity and has received billions of pounds in subsidies from the government and bill-payers because wood-burning is classed as a source of renewable energy. However, public logging records show Drax still sources whole trees from primary forests that are felled by other companies in the province, despite stating in its own sustainability criteria that the company will "avoid damage or disturbance to high carbon forests" which "can be defined as primary forest".
The company did not respond to the BBC's questions about why it had misreported its sustainability data and whether it had misled both the government and the energy regulator over its use of wood from primary forests. The company added that the misreporting previously identified by Ofgem was "technical in nature" and "would not have impacted the levels of ROCs earned".
In a statement an Ofgem spokesperson said: "We thank the BBC for sharing this information which relates to the same issue that was identified in our investigation into Drax."
Business DRAXPOWERSTATION PRIMARYFORESTS WOODPELLET RENEWABLEENERGY OFGEM
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