Drax beats revenue estimates, further commits to biomass
February 19th, 2014British power company Drax has beat financial analysts’ estimates, reporting revenues of £230 million (US$384 million) for the year ending on 31 December 2013.
According to Thomson Reuters, analysts had expected Drax’s earnings to be in the range of £222 million ($371 million).
Despite coming out ahead, rising carbon costs brought the company’s earnings down by 23%, Drax said, and it produced less electricity than in the previous year: 26.2 TWh in 2013, compared with 27.1 TWh in 2012.
In an environment that includes rising coal prices, EU carbon emissions limits and a UK emissions tax, Drax switched part of its power generation from coal to biomass in 2013 in a move to reduce costs.
The company’s electricity production from biomass amounted to almost 3 TWh in 2013, and it now aims to produce 50% of its power output from biomass by 2016.
Also reported was “good progress” on the optimization of Drax’s first converted biomass unit, commissioned in April 2013, which the company expects to achieve an output of 630 MW.
