Modelling commissioned by think tank E3G has shown that the UK government can achieve its clean power mission by 2030 without biomass power from Drax.
The UK taxpayer-subsidised firm has come under criticism for its activity - including being the biggest CO2 emitter in the country. Last week, a group of Labour MPs urged the government to rethink the subsidies awarded to Drax. It has received over £7 billion since 2012.
In the US, the organisation was found to have breached environmental regulations over 11,000 times.
According to E3G, the UK government's net-zero target can only be met by a huge expansion of renewables - tripling offshore wind, more than doubling solar and on-shore wind generation.
"The clean power mission can be achieved with minimal amounts of gas CCS and without biomass power from Drax," it said. "This is important because gas CCS still leaks greenhouse gas emissions and there is strong scientific evidence that biomass power from Drax, despite being classified as clean, produces a high level of global heating emissions."
Fossil gas, however, will still be needed as backup power in 2030, it added.
"The government must start planning now to get off gas for good by investing in green hydrogen as the long-term backup solution. This is likely to be more cost effective than using gas CCS and has the added benefit of breaking the link between electricity bills and volatile fossil gas prices," claimed E3G.
"The clean power mission can also go hand in hand with the faster electrification of the economy. This is because speeding up the electrification of heat, transport and industry means we will not need to pay generators to switch off when there is excess renewable power available."
UK can achieve clean power without Drax cost to taxpayer, report finds
