Drax, Brookfield and Radiant plan up to 1GW data center at Selby

Drax, Brookfield and Radiant plan up to 1GW of data center capacity at Drax Power Station in Selby, North Yorkshire, with the first up to 100MW targeted for the first quarter of 2028.

Brookfield, working through Radiant, its UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform, estimates total investment in the development could exceed £20 billion ($26.8 billion), including £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) for phase one. Data Center Dynamics first reported the partnership. The project sits inside a joint venture the partners call Brookfield-Qai AI.

For an allocator, the number to underwrite is the £2.5 billion initial phase and its conditions, not the £20 billion build that runs past 2031. Phase one is conditional on planning progress, regulatory and network approvals from government and the system operator, and a signed tenant. No tenant has been named.

Capacity rises to 500MW between 2028 and 2031, with further increases planned after 2031. The proposed site comprises 1,000 acres with 4GW of grid access. It has 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation and cooling systems drawn from the existing wood pellet plant.

Drax Group chief executive Will Gardiner said the site is "one of the few UK sites that can provide large-scale reliable power directly to data center customers by utilizing existing and underutilized generation capacity."

The announcement follows the UK government's rejection of a bid by North Yorkshire Council, the University of York and Drax to develop up to 1.2GW at the same site under the AI Growth Zone scheme, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported. That application failed the scheme's selection criteria. The proposal relies on the station's existing grid access and treats network approvals from the system operator as a condition of the first phase.