British headquartered energy giant Drax Group has announced it is expanding its operations into Japan.

Drax aims to increase its wood pellet production capacity to eight million tonnes a year by 2030 from five million tonnes a year currently.

Last week, the company announced it signed an agreement with the National Grid to keep its two coal-fired units at Drax Power Station open to provide a “winter contingency” service to the UK power system from October 2022 until the end of March 2023.

British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom said: “The global issues facing us today highlight the importance of clean and secure energy supply chains.”

Drax Group’s Managing Director for Asia, Yasuhisa Okamoto, said: “Drax’s unrivalled expertise across the entire biomass value chain – from sustainable fibre sourcing, pellet manufacturing, supply chain management, biomass power generation and BECCS – can support Japan’s climate targets, accelerating the move away from coal and enabling investment in clean energy technologies.”

Article source: https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/07/14/drax-sets-foot-in-asia/