Drax Group, Brookfield and its UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform Radiant have announced a partnership to develop large-scale data centre capacity at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, with total investment potentially exceeding £20bn ($26.8bn).
The project will be backed by a joint venture between Brookfield and Qai. The first phase alone is expected to involve an initial £2.5bn investment.
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
Under the phased development plan, the partners are targeting up to 100MW of operational capacity from the first quarter of 2028. A second phase aims to increase capacity to 500MW between 2028 and 2031, with further expansion envisaged after 2031.
However, progression of the first phase depends on several conditions. These include timely planning approvals, regulatory and network clearances from the government and the system operator, and securing the project’s suitable tenant.
Drax Power Station sits on a 1,000-acre estate with 4GW of grid access, 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation as well as existing cooling systems. The site’s proximity to the UK fibre network is also cited as a factor suited to faster data centre development.
The companies said the collaboration is in line with the UK government’s ambitions around AI sovereignty and reindustrialisation.
The partners also welcomed the government’s new Data Centre Covenant, which aims to accelerate planning and power connections for strategically important data centre projects.
Their initial assessment is that the Drax project meets the covenant’s criteria, covering energy security, local community benefits, environmental standards and access to secure infrastructure.
As part of the partnership, the companies anticipate establishment of a voluntary community benefits fund, which has been developed with communities around the power station.
This would be separate from and in addition to any planning obligations and the existing community initiatives of Drax. Shortly, a community consultation on the proposals is due to commence, with the formal planning process to follow.
Brookfield AI infrastructure head Sikander Rashid said: “Teaming up with Drax and Qai for this project represents a major opportunity for our AI infrastructure strategy. Our capital and deep operating capabilities will help accelerate the construction of a critical piece of sovereign AI, delivered by Radiant, our UK-headquartered compute infrastructure platform. In addition to preserving hundreds of jobs, this project will also create many direct and indirect jobs around the broader Yorkshire area.”
