I WANTED to reassure D Bradley (‘Let’s get real’, Postbag, June 1) about our operations at Drax Power. 

We have invested £650m in upgrading half of our power station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable compressed wood pellets (biomass), instead of coal.

The majority of the wood we use comes from the expansive working forests of the US South which provide an abundant supply of low-grade wood, which we transform into high quality, sustainable compressed wood pellets.

In these working forests the primary product is high grade timber used to supply other industries - including construction and furniture making.

We take the low grade material including tree tops, limbs, sawmill residues, misshapen and diseased trees not suitable for other use, as well as thinnings - small trees removed to maximise the growth of the forest. 

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We understand that not all wood should be used for bioenergy. This is why we require all our suppliers to meet tough screening and sustainability standards set by the UK government and independently audited. We only source from sustainable working forests that grow back and stay as forests. 

Since the 1950s, forest stocks in the US south have increased by more than 100 per cent. 

Moreover, there are many controls in place to protect bottomlands in the US and Drax does not take any wood fibre from sites that are protected or officially identified as having high bio-diversity value. 

Drax is playing a leading role in helping to change the way energy is generated supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. 

Our biomass generating units deliver carbon savings of 80 per cent compared to when they used coal.

And since upgrading half of the power station to use sustainable wood pellets we now produce 16 per cent of the UK’s renewable electricity – enough to power four million households.

ANDY KOSS
CEO, Drax Power
Selby
North Yorkshire