Drax power station to light up for Charles’ coronation

Drax Power Station, the UK’s biggest generator of renewable electricity, is projecting a symbol onto one of its huge cooling towers this weekend to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.
Electricity has been generated by Drax since 1974 after it was built by the Central Electricity Generating Board, in an area of Yorkshire known as Megawatt Valley due to a fleet of coal-fired power stations which were built there in the 1960s-1980s.
Drax was not only the biggest, but it was also one of the most advanced and efficient coal-fired power stations ever built in the UK.
Nearly five decades on, Drax has announced the official end of coal-fired generation at its North Yorkshire power station, after having transformed itself to become the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe by using sustainable biomass, generating enough renewable electricity for four million households.
The announcement marks a historic milestone in both the company and the UK’s transformation to a zero-carbon energy future, according to Drax.
Bruce Heppenstall, plant director, said: “His Majesty King Charles III has shown great commitment to environmental and climate causes and Drax was delighted to be asked to be a member of his Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) in 2020. SMI enables industry executives to work together on delivering meaningful and actionable plans to help accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable future.
“We wanted to do something special to celebrate this major event in UK history and as our cooling towers are a major landmark that can be seen for miles around – we thought lighting up in honour of our King was a fitting tribute.”
The 114m tall cooling towers near Selby in North Yorkshire, will be lit up between 8:00pm until 1:00am every night from Friday 5th May to Monday 8th May.
Last year the cooling towers were lit up in red and blue to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, and in September a tribute to the Queen was projected during the period of mourning.