Giant Drax plant could halve CO2 output

By Pete Harrison

SELBY (Reuters) - Britain's biggest coal-fired power station could almost halve its CO2 emissions using existing technology, but is being held back by government policy, says Drax (DRX.L) Chief Executive Dorothy Thompson.

Drax power station in North Yorkshire is Britain's cleanest coal power station, but because of its sheer size -- it supplies over 7 percent of Britain's electricity -- it is also the country's single biggest producer of climate-damaging CO2.

The plant's 850 feet (260 metres) high chimney, the tallest in Britain, dominates the landscape in Selby.

Coal-fired power stations, including Drax, have become a target for environmental protesters, with campaign group WWF last week naming Britain as home to a third of Europe's dirtiest plants.

But Thompson said Drax could start cutting CO2 immediately by replacing much more of the coal it burns with renewable plant biomass if it got the same kind of support as wind farms.

Britain will next week publish its long-awaited energy review, detailing the landscape in which power producers will be expected to help Britain achieve its goal of cutting greenhouse emissions by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

"We'd like to see the right level of support for co-firing plant biomass," Thompson told Reuters on Wednesday. "It is the most practical way for the UK to achieve a quick reduction in CO2."

Biomass is seen as harmless to the environment because it absorbs as much CO2 while growing as it produces during burning.