Business · Companies · 1 hr ago
Drax and Brookfield plan AI data centre at North Yorkshire power station
UK energy company Drax has agreed with Brookfield and its Radiant platform to develop an AI data centre at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, England.
The project is planned for a site on the power station estate, where the partners aim to use the location to support computing for artificial intelligence.
The first phase is planned to provide up to 100 megawatts from early 2028.
A further 500 megawatts is planned to come online between 2028 and 2031, with the longer-term aim of securing more than 1 gigawatt of capacity.
Brookfield estimates that total investment could exceed £20 billion, including spending on semiconductors, with £2.5 billion planned for the first phase.
The agreement comes as European companies seek to build more infrastructure for AI, which needs large amounts of computing power and electricity.
Drax shares rose 8.2% in early trading after the announcement, while the project’s later expansion plans remain subject to securing more capacity.
Drax Group has signed an agreement with Brookfield and its Radiant neocloud platform to jointly develop an AI data centre.
The proposed centre would be built on the Drax Power Station estate in North Yorkshire.
The first phase is targeting up to 100 megawatts of capacity, operational from the first quarter of 2028.
A further 500 megawatts is planned to come online between 2028 and 2031, with more than 1 gigawatt targeted at the site by an unspecified date.
Brookfield estimates total investment, including semiconductors, could exceed £20 billion, with £2.5 billion initially planned for phase one.
- Who
- Drax Group, Brookfield and Brookfield’s Radiant neocloud platform.
- What
- They signed an agreement to jointly develop an AI data centre.
- When
- The agreement was announced on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
- Where
- The Drax Power Station estate in North Yorkshire, England.
- Why
- To develop infrastructure supporting the rollout of AI.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Drax Group said it had signed an agreement with Brookfield and Radiant to develop the data centre.
The project is targeting up to 100 megawatts of capacity becoming operational.
An additional 500 megawatts of capacity is planned to come online.
- Initial capacity target
- Up to 100 megawatts
- First phase operational target
- First quarter of 2028
- Additional capacity
- 500 megawatts between 2028 and 2031
- Longer-term site target
- More than 1 gigawatt, by an unspecified date
- Total investment estimate
- Could exceed £20 billion, including semiconductors
- Initial phase-one investment
- £2.5 billion