The UK government has rejected a bid by North Yorkshire Council, the University of York and Drax to use the Drax bioenergy plant near Selby to power an AI data centre, Datacenter Dynamics reported. The proposal, submitted through the AI Growth Zone scheme, envisaged a 1.2GW data centre powered by the 2.58GW plant, the UK’s single largest generator.
The applicants described the facility in carbon negative terms, based on capturing at least eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year with chemical scrubbers fitted in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The plant itself is one of the UK’s largest emitters, at 14.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025 according to Ember, the energy think tank cited in the report. Local reporting said the bid failed the selection criteria, including credible plans for energy delivery, environmental considerations and local economic benefit.
Drax has pivoted rather than walked away. The company now plans a 100MW data centre drawing power from the national grid, and said it plans to submit the first phase to planning authorities in the coming months, with a data centre potentially online before the end of the decade. A spokesperson said the company had never relied on the Growth Zone bid succeeding.
The episode cuts both ways for UK AI policy. The Growth Zone scheme exists to accelerate exactly this class of project, and its first high profile test has ended with the state saying no to its largest single site proposal, on environmental and deliverability grounds that every other bidder now has to price in.