IN Brief:
- Drax, Brookfield, and Radiant have agreed to pursue data centre development on the Drax Power Station estate in North Yorkshire.
- The first phase targets up to 100MW of capacity; later phases could take the site beyond 1GW.
- Potential investment of more than £20bn includes computing equipment and is conditional on approvals, customers, and investment decisions.
Drax has agreed to develop plans for a large data centre complex at its North Yorkshire power station with Brookfield and Radiant, the investment group’s UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform. The partners intend to use land, grid access, and existing industrial infrastructure on the Drax estate to support a phased programme which could eventually exceed 1GW of data centre capacity. The first phase remains a proposal rather than an authorised construction project, with planning and other approvals still required.
The first proposed phase targets up to 100MW of data centre capacity and commercial operation from the first quarter of 2028. A second phase between 2028 and 2031 is intended to add capacity on the route towards a larger complex, with further expansion envisaged after 2031. The partners have stated an ambition to exceed 1GW overall, but the precise capacity delivered in each later phase remains dependent on market demand, consents, and investment decisions.
Brookfield estimates that developing the site in full could involve more than £20bn in investment, including semiconductor chips and computing infrastructure. The figure is consequently a potential total capital investment, rather than the value of a construction contract. An initial investment of approximately £2.5bn is envisaged for the first phase. Procurement, design appointments, and the construction timetable have yet to be announced.
Drax Power Station occupies an estate of approximately 1,000 acres with 4GW of grid access and 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation capacity. Existing cooling systems and proximity to fibre connections are also central to the proposal. The capacity figures describe the power station estate and its infrastructure, while the first data centre phase is planned to import electricity directly from the grid. Drax will lead land, power integration, and planning work for that phase.
The established industrial setting brings site services, power infrastructure, and existing operations into the same design process. Electrical intake and distribution equipment will need to be configured around the proposed computing load and any continuing generating activity, with compatible cooling, drainage, communications, and access arrangements. Drax and its partners have yet to specify the physical layout or how much of the existing infrastructure will be adapted for the data centre.
A 100MW computing installation would also need space for resilient electrical systems and cooling equipment alongside the buildings housing servers. Cooling configuration influences the arrangement of plant, pipework, power distribution, and water services, while security and fire protection affect the building envelope and access controls. The partners have identified available power and cooling infrastructure but have not published designs establishing the final building configuration, cooling method, or water demand.
Will Gardiner, Drax Group chief executive, described the partnership as a potential route to securing the site’s long-term future and protecting employment. Radiant will lead design, customer engagement, and commercialisation for the initial phase, seeking an anchor customer before construction begins. That work must be coordinated with Drax’s responsibility for planning and energy integration, because customer requirements will influence the capacity, resilience, and operating specifications that the buildings need to accommodate.
The first phase requires planning, regulatory, and network approvals, a suitable tenant, commercial agreements, and final investment decisions by the parties. Those conditions determine whether the early-2028 operating target can be met. The programme will also need to allow for an operating first phase and potential later construction on other parts of the estate, although the published proposals do not yet set out a phased site logistics strategy.
Public consultation on the first phase is expected to begin in November 2026, ahead of the formal planning process. The partnership intends to establish a voluntary community benefits fund following discussions with local residents, separate from statutory planning obligations and Drax’s existing community programmes. Its value and governance have not been published. The planning application will provide the first opportunity to assess the proposed development footprint and environmental design in detail.
Brookfield and Qai are expected to provide investment capital and operating capabilities through their AI infrastructure joint venture, with Radiant supplying the specialist computing platform. Drax’s role covers the estate and power integration. That division of responsibilities establishes the intended commercial structure, while detailed civils, mechanical, electrical, and building packages will depend on design development and procurement decisions.
The earliest building phase may establish infrastructure that subsequent stages could extend, including site access, electricity connections, service corridors, and communications routes. Whether those elements are sized for the eventual development at the outset remains an open engineering and investment choice. Early design decisions will therefore affect how later capacity could be brought into service without disrupting the first operational buildings.
Consultation, preparation of the planning application, network approvals, customer commitments, and final investment decisions are the next published milestones. A construction procurement timetable can follow only when the first phase has sufficient design and commercial certainty. The site has substantial existing infrastructure, but the potential investment exceeding £20bn remains conditional on the pace and extent of a development that has yet to secure consent.
