Drax agrees data centre partnership with Brookfield and Radiant

what happened

On Tuesday, Drax announced an agreement with Brookfield and the AI infrastructure firm Radiant to develop jointly a data centre with capacity above 1 gigawatt at its power station in northern England.

Drax will contribute land, generation capacity and access to its 4 GW grid connection at the Drax plant. Radiant will supply expertise in AI infrastructure, while Brookfield will bring investment through a joint venture with Qatar's Qai set up in 2025, the company said in a statement.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner said: "If constructed in full, this project could become one of the largest data centres in the UK." Brookfield estimates total potential investment could exceed £20 billion ($26.81 billion). The first phase, with £2.5 billion of initial funding, will draw power directly from the grid and target commercial operations from early 2028.

why it matters

For markets, the deal points to rising electricity demand from AI computing and could give Drax new large customers for its existing grid access. The project is long-dated, and the investment figures are still estimates.

market impact

Drax shares and UK power market: the data centre plan could support expectations of higher power demand

• ▲Drax shares pressure up — a large data centre project could raise expected power demand from the plant

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