Drax, Brookfield and Radiant agree £20bn partnership for data centre at Drax Power Station

Drax Group has signed an agreement with Brookfield and its UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform Radiant to develop, deliver and operate gigawatt-scale data centre capacity at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, with a first 100MW phase targeted for early 2028.

Brookfield estimates total investment in the development could exceed £20bn, including an initial £2.5bn for the first phase. Drax said in a stock exchange announcement on 3 November 2026 that the figure includes semiconductor chips, not just construction.

The Brookfield-Qai AI infrastructure joint venture will back the project, Drax said. Brookfield and Qai announced that $20bn joint venture on 9 December 2025 as part of Brookfield's global AI infrastructure programme, which aims to mobilise up to $100bn of investment.

Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said: "Drax Power Station is one of the few UK sites that can provide large-scale reliable power directly to data centre customers by utilising existing and underutilised generation capacity."

The phases

Drax set out three stages for the development.

Phase	Capacity target	Timing
Phase 1	Up to 100MW	Operational from Q1 2028
Phase 2	Up to 500MW	Ramp up between 2028 and 2031
Phase 3	Additional capacity	After 2031

Radiant, writing on its own blog, said the programme scales in phases to reach a full gigawatt by Phase 3.

How the site would be powered

The first phase will draw power directly from the grid, according to Drax's RNS. Later phases envisage the station's existing generation supplying around-the-clock power directly to the data centre under a long-term power purchase agreement, subject to the necessary consents.

That route is already provided for in Drax's Contract for Difference (CfD) with the UK Government, signed in November 2025. The CfD covers about 6TWh a year of biomass generation between April 2027 and March 2031 and includes a mechanism for Drax to request up to 500MW of capacity to be used to power a data centre.

Drax said the power station estate covers 1,000 acres and has 4GW of grid access, 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation and cooling systems. The station, near Selby, has six boilers, four of which have been converted to biomass, and 12 cooling towers each 105m high. Its two coal units stopped commercial operations in March 2021.

Drax says the station provides about 5% of UK electricity and 10% of UK renewable power, and employs around 1,000 people directly.

Who does what

Under the agreement, Radiant will lead on design, customer engagement and commercialisation of the data centre, while Drax will lead on land, power integration and planning, according to the RNS.

Radiant describes itself as a vertically integrated AI infrastructure company and an NVIDIA Cloud Partner. It was formed through a merger with Ori Industries, announced in February 2026.

Sikander Rashid, Brookfield Head of AI infrastructure, said: "In addition to preserving hundreds of jobs, this project will also create many direct and indirect jobs around the broader Yorkshire area."

Conditions

Drax said progress on the first phase depends on timely planning, regulatory and network approvals from Government and the system operator, and on securing a suitable tenant. The partners intend to secure anchor customer commitments before starting construction, and the project remains subject to negotiation of commercial agreements and each party taking a final investment decision.

The companies said they welcome the Government's Data Centre Covenant and that their initial assessment is that the project aligns with its criteria. Under the Covenant, published by HM Treasury, the Government estimates the UK will need 6GW of AI data centre capacity by 2030 and will set up a Ministerial Control Centre to consider supportive action for strategic data centres that meet its tests.

The Covenant says strategic data centres should agree a Local Benefit Plan committing to substantial investment, developed with the local community, and that the Government will develop a tightly controlled framework to permit on-site generation until a grid connection can be secured. The Government has not yet defined which projects count as strategic data centres and will set out details in due course.

Emma Reynolds MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said investments like this would pave the way to a new age of British reindustrialisation and create jobs in Yorkshire. Trevor Hutchings, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association, said data centres are critical national infrastructure and a key sovereign capability.

What happens next

The partners expect to establish a voluntary community benefits fund, developed in consultation with communities around the site and separate from any planning obligations and Drax's existing community initiatives.

Drax's RNS said a public consultation process is expected to start in November 2026, with a planning application for Phase 1 being prepared. Drax said it is targeting the start of the formal planning process in the coming months.