Drax Data Center Plan Targets 1GW of AI Capacity in Yorkshire

The Drax data center project is finally official. Drax Group, owner of the UK’s largest power station in Selby, North Yorkshire, announced on November 3 that it will work with investment giant Brookfield and its AI infrastructure platform Radiant to build up to 1 gigawatt of data center capacity on the power station site. Brookfield estimates total investment could top £20 billion ($26.8 billion).

The first phase would deliver up to 100MW and is expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2028, backed by an initial £2.5 billion. A second phase would lift capacity to 500MW between 2028 and 2031, with further expansion planned after that. The project will run through a joint venture called Brookfield-Qai AI, with Radiant delivering the compute infrastructure.

Why the Drax Data Center Site Matters

Power is the hardest part of building AI infrastructure, and this is where Drax has an edge. According to DatacenterDynamics, the site covers 1,000 acres with 4GW of grid access, 2.6GW of dispatchable generation and existing cooling systems. CEO Will Gardiner called it “one of the few UK sites that can provide large-scale reliable power directly to data center customers.”

At first, Drax will provide land and grid connections. It hopes to start supplying the data center directly with its own electricity by the early 2030s, once regulators approve. The scale of demand explains the rush: we recently looked at how much energy AI uses, and grid capacity has become a bottleneck worldwide.

A Lifeline for a Controversial Plant

The deal also gives the power station a future. Drax burns wood pellets and produces almost 5% of Britain’s electricity, but the government plans to cut its subsidies in half from 2027 to 2031. As reported by The Guardian, the company’s market value jumped almost 9% to nearly £3 billion after the news.

Critics are not convinced. Energy think tank Ember says the plant emitted 14.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025, making it the country’s biggest single emitter, which sits awkwardly with earlier claims of a “carbon negative” data center. The UK government also rejected a previous 1.2GW AI Growth Zone bid for the same site.

What Comes Next

The first phase still needs planning permission, regulatory and network approvals, and a tenant. Drax says community consultation will start soon, along with a voluntary benefits fund for nearby towns. Energy companies everywhere are chasing the same opportunity, from OpenAI’s grid protection plans in the US to new data center builds in Russia.