Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Drax Biomass Combine, Rebrand to Drax

 

Sustainable biomass pellet producer Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. and Drax Group’s U.S. pellet business, Drax Biomass Inc., are rebranding as Drax in a move that supports the Group’s growth strategy, climate goals and relationships with people—including colleagues, communities, partners, customers and suppliers.

Drax Group acquired Pinnacle last year. Drax’s existing operations in the U.S. South were known as Drax Biomass.

Drax Group now has 17 pellet plants and developments in the U.S. and Canada that will be known as Drax. Pellets produced in North America are used at the Drax Power Station in England to generate electricity or are sold to customers in Europe and Asia seeking to decarbonize their power sectors to meet their climate commitments.

Drax is also developing a pioneering negative emissions technology, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), which permanently removes millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The world’s leading climate scientists at the UN’s IPCC say BECCS is critical to addressing the climate emergency.

Drax’s Executive Vice President of Pellet Operations Matt White says, “Last year’s acquisition of Pinnacle advanced Drax’s strategy to increase sustainable biomass production capacity and reduce costs, creating the world’s leading biomass generation and supply business that is well placed to play a critical role in helping countries to meet net zero.We have made good progress integrating Pinnacle and this rebrand will provide a firm foundation for the business to meet the expected growth in global demand for sustainable biomass and our negative emissions technology BECCS.”

Drax plans to increase its annual pellet production capacity to 8 million tonnes by 2030 from around 4 million tonnes currently and is doubling global pellet sales to 4Mt by 2030 to meet an expected increase in global demand for the low-carbon fuel.

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