Drax Adds Rail Link

A one-year-old rail link has increased capacity to deliver more sustainable biomass from Drax’s LaSalle BioEnergy pellet plant in Urania, La., to its UK power station. The $15 million rail link, combined with other initiatives, have already contributed to a $5/tonne reduction in Drax’s biomass production costs in 2019.

The five miles of rail track connects Drax’s LaSalle BioEnergy pellet plant to the regional rail network, enabling freight trains to deliver the pellets to the company’s dedicated export facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The addition of the rail link has allowed Drax to deliver around 7,000 tonnes of sustainable biomass to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in each train, compared to just 27 tonnes that could be transported by each truck previously.

A team of close to 40 contractors worked through two of the wettest Louisiana winters in decades to clear the site, excavating around 180,000 cubic yards of dirt to level off the ground and stabilize it before three sets of rail tracks could be laid. The work also included installing conveyors to get the pellets to the new rail loading point.

The rail link was commissioned last May and is now fully operational—and is part of Drax’s wider efforts to cut the costs of its biomass by around a third by 2027.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Drax Announces $40M Investment In Arkansas

Drax Sets Sights On Carbon Capture

Pinnacle Renewable Energy To Be Acquired By Drax Group

Earthworm, Drax Working Together

Drax Can See End Of Coal Operations

Drax Appoints White To Lead U.S.

Latest news

University Of Georgia Researchers Will Reengineer Poplar

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia and two partner institutions have been awarded a $15.8 million grant over five years from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to reengineer poplar trees to be used as a sustainable energy source…

Rotochopper Adds Chad Angeli To Newly Created Executive Role

Chad Angeli has been announced as the newest member to the Rotochopper executive team in the newly created role of Vice President of Customer Experience. In this role, Angeli will lead the sales, marketing, and customer service functions, strengthening the Rotochopper brand and aligning customer touchpoints. As a strategic partner to the CEO, he will develop and implement strategies that lead to continued…

Find Us On Social

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Wood Bioenergy News Online hits the inboxes of subscribers in the wood-to-energy sectors.

Subscribe/Renew

Wood Bioenergy is published and delivered worldwide 6 times per year. Free to qualified readers in the U.S. Subscribers outside the U.S. are asked to pay a small fee.

Advertise

Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.