Drax power station could host £20bn data centre campus

Drax, Brookfield and Radiant have announced plans to develop a gigawatt-scale data centre campus at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. Brookfield estimates that investment could exceed £20bn if the full development goes ahead, with potential backing of £2.5bn for the first phase.

Drax will work with Brookfield and Radiant, Brookfield’s UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform, to develop and operate the campus. The Brookfield–Qai AI infrastructure joint venture would provide financial backing.

The first phase would provide up to 100MW of data centre capacity, with operations targeted from the first quarter of 2028. It depends on planning, regulatory and network approvals, as well as securing a tenant. The partners aim to increase capacity to 500MW between 2028 and 2031, with further expansion envisaged after 2031.

The power station estate has 4GW of grid access and 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation, according to Drax. The site also has existing cooling systems and lies close to the UK fibre network. Drax says the power station could use underutilised generation capacity to supply data centre customers directly.

The partners say their initial assessment indicates that the plans align with the government’s Data Centre Covenant, which offers a route to faster power connections and planning for strategically important projects. The government has yet to set out how it will determine which projects qualify.

Drax expects to begin community consultation shortly and aims to start the formal planning process in the coming months. The partners also expect to establish a voluntary community benefits fund, shaped in consultation with local communities and separate from any planning obligations or existing Drax initiatives.