Drax and Brookfield announce potential £20bn investment for North Yorkshire data centre
The proposed project aims to harness AI and energy infrastructure for national growth
A significant investment deal has been announced by power generation firm Drax, which has partnered with Brookfield and AI company Radiant to develop a data centre at its North Yorkshire power station.
The project, involving an initial investment of £2.5 billion by Brookfield through its joint venture with Qatar's Qai, has the potential to exceed £20 billion in total.
Drax had previously outlined plans late last year to repurpose existing infrastructure at the power station for such a development.
The newly confirmed agreement with Brookfield and Radiant is aimed at launching the first phase of a substantial data centre project.
The initial phase is set to feature a 100MW centre operational by the first quarter of 2028, pending planning and regulatory approvals.
Drax plans to increase capacity to 500MW between 2028 and 2031, with further development anticipated in subsequent years.
Will Gardiner, Drax Group Chief Executive, commented on the collaboration, highlighting the opportunity to combine AI leadership, energy infrastructure and industrial renewal to drive both national growth and support for the North's economy.
The proposed project is poised to be one of the largest data centres in the UK if fully constructed.
Sikander Rashid, head of AI infrastructure at Brookfield, expressed that teaming up with Drax and Qai presents a major opportunity for their strategy, aided by Radiant's UK-based compute infrastructure platform.