Drax Group plc (LON:DRX) has confirmed that it has signed an agreement to develop a strategic partnership with Brookfield and Radiant, Brookfield’s UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform, to jointly develop, deliver and operate an AI data centre on the Drax Power Station estate in the north of England. The partnership combines Radiant’s AI infrastructure expertise with Drax’s powered land and generation capabilities, with investment capital and operating capabilities provided through a Brookfield-Qai AI infrastructure joint venture announced in 2025(1).
Project highlights
· Strategic partnership targeting development of >1GW data centre at Drax Power Station
– Phase 1: targeting up to 100MW, operational from Q1 2028
– Phase 2: ambition to ramp up to an additional 500MW of capacity between 2028 and 2031
– Phase 3: ambition to develop additional capacity post 2031
· Brookfield estimates that total potential investment, including semiconductor chips, could exceed £20 billion, with an initial £2.5 billion as a part of Phase 1
The partnership will focus on the development of a data centre which will utilise Drax Power Station’s 4GW of grid access and 2.6GW of dispatchable generation capacity.
The first phase, using power directly from the grid, is targeting commercial operations from early 2028. Progression of Phase 1 is subject to the necessary planning approvals, as well as receiving the required regulatory and network approvals from Government and the relevant agencies, in addition to securing an acceptable tenant for the project, negotiation of necessary commercial agreements and each party taking a final investment decision.
Drax Group CEO, Will Gardiner, said: “We are proud to be partnering with leading AI infrastructure providers on this project which can help secure the long-term future of the site and protect hundreds of jobs, maintain a critical source of this country’s energy security, support northern growth and enable us to continue delivering for our local communities.
“This country has a unique opportunity to bring together AI leadership, energy infrastructure and industrial renewal to drive national growth. If constructed in full, this project could become one of the largest data centres in the UK, with the potential to attract billions in inward investment, supporting the north’s reindustrialisation and strengthening sovereign AI capability.
“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. We welcome the Government’s recognition that strategically important data centres need faster access to power and planning. The priority now must be turning that ambition into delivery, so projects like this can move at the pace the UK needs to compete for global AI investment.”
Brookfield Head of AI infrastructure, Sikander Rashid, said: “Teaming up with Drax and Qai for this project represents a major opportunity for our AI infrastructure strategy. Our capital and deep operating capabilities will help accelerate the construction of a critical piece of sovereign AI, delivered by Radiant, our UK-headquartered compute infrastructure platform. In addition to preserving hundreds of jobs, this project will also create many direct and indirect jobs around the broader Yorkshire area.”
Qai Chairman and Managing Director, Abdulla Al-Misnad, said: “This project is a major initiative under the Brookfield-Qai joint venture and forms part of our international AI infrastructure strategy. Drawing on the combined expertise of Qai and Brookfield in developing and managing large-scale critical infrastructure, and with Radiant and Drax delivering the project, we are helping to establish the infrastructure required to support the long-term growth of the UK’s AI ecosystem.”
Radiant CEO, Mahdi Yahya, said: “We are proud to expand our UK AI compute footprint with Drax. This is a unique opportunity for the UK’s AI ecosystem to build at scale. By designing, building and operating from the UK, it will give British researchers, startups and enterprises access to frontier compute at home. Drax has powered Britain for more than fifty years. Together we can power its AI economy for the next fifty.”
Details of the partnership
Phase 1: 2026-2028
Phase 1 targets a data centre with up to 100MW of compute capacity, making it one of the largest current data centres in the UK. The development, on land identified at Drax Power Station, will utilise existing infrastructure to import power directly from the grid, which will be managed by Drax. Radiant will lead on design, customer engagement and commercialisation, seeking to secure anchor customer commitments prior to initiating construction and Drax will lead on land, power integration and planning.
A planning application for Phase 1 of the project is being prepared and a public consultation process is expected to commence in November 2026.
The Partners expect to establish a voluntary community benefits fund – developed in consultation with communities around the Drax Power Station site – that is separate from and additional to any planning obligations and Drax’s existing community initiatives.
Phase 2: 2028-2031
Phase 2 is an ambition to develop options for 500MW of data centre capacity between 2028 and 2031, which is expected to utilise existing generation capabilities at Drax Power Station to provide a distributed energy and management solution (behind-the-meter) with around-the-clock power directly to a data centre under a long-term PPA agreement, subject to necessary consents.
In November 2025, Drax signed a Contract-for-Difference (CfD) agreement with the UK Government to provide c.6TWh of biomass generation pa between April 2027 and March 2031, which equates to c.30% of total annual baseload output from its 2.6GW of active generation. The CfD agreement includes a mechanism for Drax to request up to 500MW of capacity being used to power a data centre during this period, subject to agreement with the UK Government and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, taking into account a number of factors in its decision making, including value for money for consumers, energy security, and sustainability.
Drax Power Station’s role in supporting UK security of supply, providing low-carbon dispatchable power and critical system services will remain unchanged.
Phase 3: post 2031
Phase 3 is an ambition to develop options for additional data centre capacity post 2031, which will utilise the same behind-the-meter solution as Phase 2.
In aggregate Phases 1, 2 and 3 have the potential to deliver GW-scale data centre capability at Drax Power Station.
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