- New report shows Drax generated more than £200m for the Scottish economy, helping local businesses and supporting skilled jobs in rural areas.
- Drax owns and operates nine hydropower stations in Scotland, including the iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan pumped hydro storage power station in Argyll.
RENEWABLE energy company Drax Group contributed £211 million towards the Scottish economy and supported 1,200 jobs across the country, according to a new report.
The independent analysis by Oxford Economics measured the economic impact of Drax’s UK operations, which includes the iconic underground ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan pumped hydro storage power station in Argyll.
Cruachan acts like a giant battery with its reversible turbines able to both pump water to store excess energy and generate power when the country needs it most. This process enables the plant to stop excess renewable power from wind farms going to waste, and Drax is progressing plans to expand Cruachan to help the country decarbonise faster.
Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said: “Drax’s renewable power operations and sophisticated supply chains are helping level up the UK economy by supporting jobs, skills and opportunities – including in Scotland.
“We aim to go further by progressing plans to expand our hydro pumped storage capacity at Cruachan – this will help the country to decarbonise faster and to build back better, delivering a post-Covid, green economic recovery using vital technologies needed to address the climate crisis.”
Jobs supported by Drax’s activities across the UK covered a wide range of sectors including high-skilled manufacturing of industrial components, engineering and technical machinery, IT, professional business services and transporting goods.
James Bedford, Economist at Oxford Economics, said: “Drax Group makes an important economic contribution to the UK. Its activities generated £2.2 billion in GDP in 2019, and sustained thousands of jobs across the nation.
“The positive impact from Drax’s operations aren’t just confined to the boundaries of its power stations or customer contact centres, it is spread across the country benefiting communities throughout the UK.”
