Drax, Brookfield and Radiant target a 1GW AI data centre at Drax Power Station — £20bn-plus if built in full

Drax Group has signed an agreement with Brookfield and Radiant, Brookfield’s UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform, to jointly develop, deliver and operate an AI data centre on the Drax Power Station estate in North Yorkshire, the partners announced on November 3, 2026. Investment capital and operating capabilities will come through a Brookfield-Qai AI infrastructure joint venture announced in 2025. Reuters reported the same headline terms the same day: more than 1GW of capacity, and more than £20 billion of potential investment.

The draw is power, already on site. The estate covers more than 1,000 acres, with about 4GW of grid access and 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation plus cooling systems, Drax says, next to one of the country’s largest substations and close to the UK fibre network. In a market where grid connections now gate AI build-out, that existing capacity is the pitch: a site that can deliver large-scale, reliable power directly to data centre customers from existing and underutilised generation, rather than waiting years for a new connection.

Three phases, and the first is still conditional

Phase 1 targets a data centre of up to 100MW, with commercial operations from the first quarter of 2028, using power imported directly from the grid. Radiant will lead on design, customer engagement and commercialisation, and will seek anchor customer commitments before construction begins; Drax will lead on land, power integration and planning. A planning application for Phase 1 is being prepared, with a public consultation expected to begin in November 2026. The partners also expect to establish a voluntary community benefits fund, developed in consultation with communities around the site and separate from any planning obligations.

None of that is done yet. Progression of Phase 1 is subject to planning approvals, regulatory and network approvals, securing an acceptable tenant, negotiating the necessary commercial agreements, and each party taking a final investment decision, Drax says. No anchor tenant has been named. The £20 billion figure needs the same care: Brookfield estimates that total potential investment, including semiconductor chips, could exceed £20 billion, with an initial £2.5 billion as part of Phase 1. That is an estimate of what the project could attract if built in full — not money committed on November 3.

Phase 2 leans on the biomass contract

Phase 2 is an ambition to add 500MW of data centre capacity between 2028 and 2031, using a behind-the-meter arrangement to supply round-the-clock power directly to a data centre under a long-term power purchase agreement, subject to the necessary consents. It connects to a Contract-for-Difference agreement Drax signed with the UK government in November 2025, covering about 6TWh of biomass generation a year between April 2027 and March 2031 — about 30% of total annual baseload output from its 2.6GW of active generation. The contract includes a mechanism for Drax to request up to 500MW of capacity for a data centre during that period, subject to agreement with the government and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, taking into account value for money for consumers, energy security and sustainability.

Phase 3 is an ambition for further capacity after 2031, using the same behind-the-meter approach. Taken together, Drax says, the three phases have the potential to deliver GW-scale data centre capability at the site. The power station’s existing role — supporting UK security of supply with low-carbon dispatchable power and critical system services — will remain unchanged, the announcement says.

A sovereign-AI pitch, in Yorkshire

The announcement is framed as sovereign infrastructure as much as real estate. Drax chief executive Will Gardiner said the project could help secure the long-term future of the site, protect hundreds of jobs and, if constructed in full, become one of the largest data centres in the UK, while supporting the north’s reindustrialisation and strengthening sovereign AI capability. Brookfield’s head of AI infrastructure, Sikander Rashid, said the firm’s capital and operating capabilities would help accelerate “a critical piece of sovereign AI, delivered by Radiant”. Qai chairman and managing director Abdulla Al-Misnad called the project a major initiative under the Brookfield-Qai joint venture and part of its international AI infrastructure strategy.

What to watch

Three things decide whether this becomes a data centre or stays an agreement. First, the planning process: the application and the November consultation, then the approvals and tenant search on which Phase 1 depends. Second, the Phase 2 consents: whether the government and the Low Carbon Contracts Company agree to the 500MW mechanism under the biomass contract. Third, the final investment decisions — the point at which estimates turn into committed capital. Until then, the honest summary is the partners’ own framing: a strategic partnership targeting more than 1GW, at a site that can plausibly power it.

Gardiner said the project “can help secure the long-term future of the site and protect hundreds of jobs” and could become “one of the largest data centres in the UK” if constructed in full. Radiant chief executive Mahdi Yahya put it in longer terms: “Drax has powered Britain for more than fifty years. Together we can power its AI economy for the next fifty.”