The UK government has rejected a proposal to power a 1.2GW AI data center from Drax's 2.58GW biomass plant near Selby, North Yorkshire. North Yorkshire Council, the University of York and Drax submitted the project under the AI Growth Zone scheme, which lets local authorities apply for state funding and other benefits to build large-scale AI data centers.

The applicants had pitched the facility as the world's largest "carbon negative data center." The claim sat uneasily with the plant's emissions record: Drax released 14.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025, according to data from energy think tank Ember, making it one of the UK's largest emitters.

How would the data center go carbon negative?

The applicants planned to install large-scale chemical scrubbers in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, capturing carbon at the chimneys. They claimed the system would trap at least eight million tonnes of CO2 per year. Combined with carbon capture and storage, this underpinned the carbon-negative label for a facility drawing power from the UK's single largest energy generator.

Why did the government reject the bid?

Local reports by the York Press state the proposal failed to meet the selection criteria, including:

• "credible plans for energy delivery"
• "environmental considerations"
• "local economic benefit"

A Drax spokesperson told the York Press the company was pleased to support York and North Yorkshire's AI Growth Zone bid but had "never relied" on its success.

What comes next for the site?

Drax has pivoted to a smaller project: a 100MW data center drawing power from the national grid rather than from the power plant. The company said its first phase front-of-meter facility would go to planning authorities "in the coming months."

In a statement, Drax said: "Drax Power Station is uniquely positioned to support data center developers through our site's existing infrastructure, grid connections, and this is recognized in our new support agreement with the government. Drax plans to submit its first phase 100MW front-of-meter data center to the planning authorities in the coming months, and its successful progress could enable a data center to come online before the end of this decade."

Talk of a Drax data center first surfaced in November 2024. By February of the following year, reports said the company was in discussions with data center operators about a potential supply agreement, citing "positive engagement with data center providers regarding the potential to co-locate a data center with biomass generation." Since then, Drax has signed a ten-year corporate Power Purchase Agreement with Global Switch to support the firm's UK operations.

The 1.2GW plan is dead; a 100MW grid-connected facility may arrive before 2030.