Drax Plans £20 Billion Conversion of Britain's Dirtiest Power Plant into a 1 GW AI Data Center

Britain's dirtiest power station has found a new role: feeding neural networks. The owner of Drax in North Yorkshire has struck a deal with infrastructure investor Brookfield and the AI platform Radiant. Together they will build a data center on the site that will eventually exceed 1 GW. Investment is estimated at £20 billion, about $26.8 billion.

What Exactly Is Being Built

The first phase is designed for 100 MW of computing capacity and should go live in the first quarter of 2028. At this stage Drax contributes the land and access to the national power grid through connections already in place at the site. This is the key asset: in Britain, grid queues stretch for years, and a ready connection is sometimes worth more than the servers themselves.

The company wants to launch direct power from the station by the early 2030s. That requires regulatory approvals, and Drax expects to obtain them by 2031. The market approved of the deal: capitalization on the London Stock Exchange rose almost 9% and approached £3 billion.

Why Drax Needs This

Drax produces almost 5% of the country's electricity by burning wood pellets. According to analysts, it is the largest single source of CO₂ in Britain. The government does not count these emissions: the company claims they are offset by growing trees from which the fuel is made. More and more questions are being raised about this logic.

The government has already promised that Drax's role will become "much more limited." From 2027 to 2031 the station will receive only half of its current subsidies of £2 million a day. For Drax, the data center is a way to replace departing state money with stable contracts from a major client. CEO Will Gardiner speaks of protecting hundreds of jobs and "sovereign AI capacity."

Political Context

The deal came a week after the draft national policy on data centers. It described them as as fundamental to the economy as railways and power grids. The authorities want to "take control of data center development" and ensure that local communities benefit.

Limitations and Risks

The main question is where the energy will come from. Britain's grid is overloaded, and climate targets are enshrined in law. If there isn't enough electricity, data centers will have to be powered by expensive and dirty off-grid gas generation. For Drax this is an especially sensitive issue: direct power depends on regulators' decisions, and its prospects are tied to biomass, whose environmental claims are disputed. Finally, 2028 promises only 100 MW of the announced gigawatt; the rest depends on demand and funding.

What This Means in Practice

For founders and product managers building on AI, the takeaway is simple: computing is constrained by electricity and grid connection, not just by GPUs. Sites with legacy generation and ready-made lines are becoming a valuable asset, and similar deals will keep happening. If you are planning large capacity or depend on European clouds, build in the risk of delays and rising energy prices. For companies that care about data sovereignty, a British cluster will offer a new hosting option, but not before 2028. When choosing a site, look at the energy source and the credibility of "green" promises.