Doosan Babcock and Drax Power have agreed a new long-term contract for the provision of maintenance and outage services to the UK’s largest power station.
Image: Officials of Doosan Babcock and Drax Power signing the partnership agreement. Photo: Courtesy of Doosan Babcock.
The 4 year deal, worth at least £60 million, continues to cement the strong relationship between both companies dating back to the construction of the plant near Selby, Yorkshire which was started 50 years ago.
The new four year partnership, with the option for a further four years, will strengthen workforce collaboration and improve efficiencies in maintaining and extending the life of the plant which is responsible for providing 7% of the UK’s electricity.
As Drax Power moves towards a low carbon future, Doosan Babcock will continue to be a strategic partner in the evolution of this critical national asset.
Andy Colquhoun, CEO of Doosan Babcock commented:
“Drax Power is one of the most progressive and innovative companies in the global energy sector so we are delighted to deepen our strategic relationship. This new agreement provides a platform for further collaboration in the years ahead as Drax continue to invest and evolve their assets.
“We have a long and proud history with Drax, from supplying the original boilers over 40 years ago, to supporting Drax as it transforms its business to meet the demands of the modern energy market.“This agreement is testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, consistently delivering exceptional performance. Just recently we passed the milestone of over 3 million man-hours achieved over 9 outages without a Lost Time Incident dating back to 2014. I would also like to thank the Drax team for their support and dedication in the development of this new contract”
Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said: “It’s vital that Drax continues to operate as reliably and flexibly as possible for the millions of homes and businesses which rely on the electricity we produce. This new contract will bring a closer working relationship with the Doosan Babcock team, delivering efficiencies whilst maintaining the high quality of work and standards of service required to maintain the UK’s biggest power station.
“We have converted two thirds of the power station to use biomass instead of coal, transforming the business to become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
“This, along with our plans to repower our remaining coal units to use high efficiency gas, is preserving the future of the power station and protecting jobs – our operations support 5,700 jobs across the North and generate £600m for the regional economy.”
Source: Company Press Release