Drax Group shares rose in early London trading Tuesday after the British power producer agreed with Brookfield and Radiant to pursue an AI data center at its North Yorkshire power station.
CNBC reported an 8.2% gain in Drax shares in early trading. Brookfield says the site and the semiconductor chips it would house could draw more than £20 billion in investment. Its estimate includes an initial £2.5 billion as part of Phase 1.
The partners’ longer-term ambition is to expand the site beyond one gigawatt after 2031. They aim to bring up to 100 megawatts into operation from the first quarter of 2028, then add 500 megawatts between 2028 and 2031.
The first stage has yet to receive a final go-ahead. The partners need an acceptable tenant, completed commercial agreements and planning, regulatory and network approvals. Each must also make a final investment decision.
Drax says its power station estate has about four gigawatts of grid access and 2.6 gigawatts of dispatchable generation. The initial data center would take electricity from the grid. If the second stage is approved, it is expected to use power generated at the station.
Supplying up to 500 megawatts to a data center while Drax’s government-backed biomass contract is in force would require agreement from the UK government and the Low Carbon Contracts Company. Their assessment would consider consumer value, energy security and sustainability.
Drax had been preparing a planning application for a roughly 100-megawatt data center before the partnership was announced, according to its Sept. 17 trading update. The company says the wider project could protect jobs and has proposed a community benefits fund.
Drax expects public consultation on the proposal to begin in November 2026.
