Haven Power Rebrands as Drax

Business energy supplier Haven Power has rebranded as Drax after the power generation business that acquired it in 2009.

Haven Power supplies renewables-sourced electricity to more than 20,000 large industrial and commercial customers. The electricity is sourced from Drax’s portfolio of hydroelectric, pumped hydro storage and (disputably renewable) biomass assets and from partnerships with more than 2,000 independent generators. b

Supplying more than 12TWh of electricity each year, Haven Power is Britain’s largest provider of renewable electricity to businesses.

With the rebrand, the company intends to align its supply and generation arms and to support businesses to optimise their energy use, reduce carbon emissions and minimise costs.

Paul Sheffield, managing director of Drax’s supply businesses, said: “By more closely aligning our supply business to Drax, we can better support businesses and organisations with their own net zero ambitions using Drax’s scale, knowledge and expertise in decarbonisation. 

“It also demonstrates our commitment to enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future for our customers.”

The FTSE 250-listed company previously announced its intention to become “carbon negative” by 2030. It will achieve this by deploying bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), a negative emissions technology, at its power station in North Yorkshire.

Once the largest coal-fired power station in the UK, Drax has been converted to burning wood pellets instead of the fossil fuel, with its last coal units closed for commercial generation in March.

However, its use of biomass has been controversial, with some scientists and climate activists arguing that it shouldn’t be classified as a renewable energy source and receive millions in government subsidies as such.

Carbon capture technology is also contentious. While most systems claim to capture up to 95% of emissions, the actual figure can be as low as 65%, according to a report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, commissioned by Friends of the Earth Scotland and Global Witness.

It’s also costly. Clean energy think tank Ember has said Drax’s biomass and carbon capture technology could cost British households £500 in subsidies over 25 years.