Energy giant Drax plans £20bn AI data centre that could be powered by burning wood in Yorkshire

Drax has struck a deal with infrastructure giant Brookfield and AI platform Radiant to build a gigawatt-scale data centre on its 1,000-acre North Yorkshire site, with an initial £2.5bn committed and total investment potentially topping £20bn. Drax shares jumped 8.5% to 877p on Tuesday, making it the FTSE 250's biggest riser. The first phase targets 100 megawatts of capacity by early 2028, scaling to 500MW by 2031.

The site — the UK's single largest carbon dioxide emitter — burns wood pellets, straw and sunflower pellets to generate almost 5% of Britain's electricity.

Drax chief executive Will Gardiner said the project would protect hundreds of jobs and strengthen Britain's 'sovereign AI capability'.

The deal follows the Chancellor's new 'British Data Centre Covenant', which allows data centres to use onsite generation while they wait for a grid connection.