Drax plans to convert part of its North Yorkshire power plant into datacentre
Drax has revealed plans to convert part of its power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre as soon as 2027 in response to the increase in demand for AI capability.The FTSE 250 company behind Britain’s biggest power plant told investors on Thursday that it had applied for planning permission to build a 100-megawatt datacentre at its site near Selby.The centre is expected to use the land, cooling systems and transformers that were once dedicated to the power plant’s coal generation before Drax converted its generators to burn imported wood pellets.The first datacentre to be built on its site will draw electricity from the UK’s national electricity grid, but in future there could be potential to use electricity from the Drax plant.The company set out the plans to safeguard demand for its electricity in its latest trading update, weeks after the government signalled that it would curb the amount of electricity it would subsidise from 2026.
The trading update suggested that Drax would make profits at the upper end of its guidance, largely thanks to subsidies of more than £2m a day that are drawn from energy bills to support the controversial burning of biomass as a renewable energy source.The government said the subsidies offered to Drax “simply did not deliver a good enough deal for bill payers and enabled Drax to make unacceptably large profits”.It also said Drax would face substantial penalties if it failed to use 100% woody biomass from sustainable sources, up from the current level of 70%.The Guardian revealed last month that a report by forestry experts had found that Drax continued to burn 250-year-old trees sourced from some of Canada’s oldest forests despite growing scrutiny of its sustainability claims.That followed a 2022 report by the BBC that detailed similar findings, and the start of investigation this year by the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, over “historical statements” made by Drax about the sourcing of wood pellets to examine whether the company had complied with disclosure and transparency rules.
The investigation is ongoing.The report by the Canadian NGO Stand.earth suggested it was highly likely that Britain’s biggest power plant sourced some wood from ecologically valuable forests as recently as this summer even while lobbying the government for further subsidies.Drax dismissed the report in an official filing to the US market after its publication.It told the Guardian that it uses sources woody biomass only from “well-managed, sustainable forests” and not from “designated areas of old growth”.
These areas amount to less than half of all the old-growth forest areas in British Columbia.
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘What a child he is’
Late-night hosts dug into Donald Trump’s back-pedaling over footage of the controversial Venezuela boat strikes and a White House UFC fight for his 80th birthday.On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host checked in on the US president’s economy talk, as he once again condemned use of the word “affordability”:“The reason he’s out talking about the economy is that he wants to convince us that it’s good, which it isn’t,” Kimmel explained. “But we also don’t know how bad it is because we stopped reporting job numbers. It’s like if the NBA just stopped keeping score. ‘We won
Discover Australia’s top 50 children’s picture books as nominated by Guardian readers
Put in your library reservations, plump up your beanbag: Guardian Australia can now reveal the best Australian picture books poll shortlist.Voting in the poll itself will open on 27 January at theguardian.com/bestpicturebook, which gives you a little under 50 days to read your way through these 50 nominees, the oldest of which was first published in 1973, and the newest in 2022.As a reminder, our eligibility criteria for nominees was:Primarily intended to be read aloud to children who don’t yet read independently.Able to be read in a few minutes – a child’s picture book, rather than a graphic novel or illustrated chapter book
Jon Stewart on Fifa’s peace prize: ‘An entirely fictitious golden butt plug’
Late-night hosts mocked Donald Trump for gleefully accepting the inaugural Fifa peace prize ahead of the World Cup in the US.On the daily show on Monday evening Jon Stewart roasted Donald Trump for accepting the inaugural Fifa peace prize at the World Cup draw on Friday. “Oh my God, he won the prize specifically created to appease him!” he joked. “The Fifa appease prize!“I don’t know if you guys got a good look at the trophy, but come on,” he laughed before a photo of the trophy, sculpted to appear as though several hands rising from below cupped the world.“I think its design somewhat reflects, in all likelihood, how it was conceived
Joyful, irreverent, endlessly quotable: why Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the perfect holiday movie
Picking a Christmas movie is hard work. It needs to be suitable for the entire family, which rules out Die Hard, and entertaining for the whole family, which rules out It’s a Wonderful Life. It has to be good, which rules out Love Actually, and it has to suit distracted viewing, which rules out Muppet Christmas Carol, of which it’s a sin to miss a single second.There is, however, no rule that says Christmas movies must include Christmas. Which is why Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the perfect Christmas movie
‘True activism has to cost you something’: Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan on politics, paparazzi and parasocial fandom
Back in 2008, when Nicola Coughlan was at drama school, a guy in her class swaggered over and, with all the brimming confidence of young men in the noughties, asked her, “Do the Irish think the English are really cool?” Coughlan, born in Galway, mimes processing the question. “Well,” she said, “it’s quite complicated. Like, there’s a lot of history there, between the two countries. Like, there’s a lot going on.”The Guardian’s journalism is independent
From Eternity to Jamiroquai: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Eternity Out nowMiles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen star, along with Callum Turner, in a quirky metaphysical romantic drama from A24, in which, upon arriving in the afterlife, everyone must decide where, and with whom, they would like to spend eternity. Should Olsen’s character pick the man she settled down with (Teller) or her first love (Turner)?It Was Just an AccidentOut now This Palme d’Or-winning feature from Iranian director Jafar Panahi blends social realism with political commentary, as a man (Ebrahim Azizi) and his pregnant wife (Afsaneh Najmabadi), travelling with their young daughter (Delmaz Najafi), are involved in a minor car crash.Folktales Out now Documentary-makers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp) follow a group of teens as they take a gap year at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway, where the emphasis is less on a traditional curriculum and more on dog sledding and survival skills.Five Nights at Freddy’s 2Out now Based on the second video game in the popular series, this sequel sees Josh Hutcherson reprising his role as night guard Mike Schmidt, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop back on puppet duty, for this horror about animatronic critters possessed from within by unquiet souls. Catherine BrayThe CharlatansO2 Academy Leeds, 6 December; touring to 12 DecemberReleased in October, the Charlatans’ 14th album We Are Love found the indie perennials continuing to push their sound via production help from Dev Hynes
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