Drax Group to give shareholders £300m windfall as profits rise

Owner of North Yorkshire power station earned £393m in government subsidies to biomass

The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire will give shareholders a £300m windfall after a surge in taxpayer subsidies boosted its profits for the first half of the year to more than £500m.

The power station, which earns hefty subsidies from burning biomass wood chips, mainly shipped from North America, generated almost a third more electricity over the first half of this year compared with the same months last year.