London — Drax Secures Brookfield Backing for Biomass Data Centre Plan

Drax has secured financial backing from Brookfield for a biomass-powered data centre, part of a £20bn plan the UK energy company is pursuing, according to the Financial Times. The arrangement would see Drax's wood-fired power plant supply electricity to what the FT describes as one of the UK's largest data centres.

What is Drax's £20bn plan?

The FT reports the data centre deal sits inside a broader £20bn plan at Drax, though the published summary does not break out how much of that figure is tied specifically to the data centre project versus other elements of the company's investment program. The reporting frames the Brookfield-backed facility as a component of that full plan rather than a stand-alone deal, according to the Financial Times.

How would the biomass plant power a data centre?

Drax's existing asset in the deal is its wood-fired power plant, which the FT says would supply electricity directly to the proposed facility. The arrangement would make the data centre one of the largest in the UK to run on power drawn from a single biomass source, per the FT's description of the plan.

"Company's wood-fired plant would supply one of the UK's largest data centres under the full £20bn plan," the Financial Times reported.

Why is Brookfield backing the project?

The FT identifies Brookfield as the financial backer securing the deal, placing the asset manager alongside Drax in funding the data centre's development. The available reporting does not specify the size of Brookfield's commitment, the ownership split between the two companies, or a construction timeline, and those figures are not included in the source material reviewed for this article.

What questions does this raise about biomass power?

Biomass generation, including wood-pellet combustion of the kind Drax operates, has long drawn scrutiny over carbon accounting and sourcing practices in the broader energy sector. The FT's reporting on this specific deal does not address those sustainability questions directly, and no additional source material was available to corroborate claims about emissions or fuel sourcing tied to this particular data centre arrangement. Readers seeking that context should consult Drax's own public disclosures or regulatory filings, which fall outside the scope of the reporting cited here.

What happens next for the Drax-Brookfield deal?

The FT's account does not specify a closing date, regulatory approvals required, or when the data centre itself would begin operating. Details on construction timelines, power purchase terms, and the precise scale of Brookfield's investment were not included in the published summary and could not be independently verified against other sourcing for this article. HTT News will follow the deal as further financial and regulatory disclosures become available.

The arrangement marks one of the more direct links reported so far between a UK biomass generator and the data centre buildout driving demand for new power sources across the country, based solely on the FT's initial account of the deal.