THE man heralded by colleagues as "the mastermind behind the biggest process engineering challenge of the decade" is stepping down from his role as group operations director of Drax.

The group, which owns and operates Drax power station near Selby, announced Peter Emery will leave and cease to be a director on December 31 this year.

The moves comes following the completion of a new executive management structure introduced this year, which saw Mr Emery leave his role as production director at Drax, which he held for almost 11 years, to take on a group wide position.

Phil Cox, chairman of Drax, said: "On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Peter for his great contribution to Drax over the last 11 years.

"He has been the key individual responsible for Drax's excellent operational and safety performance and for the technical leadership of its transformation to becoming a predominantly renewable generator.

"Through his leadership he has developed a strong operational philosophy of continuous improvement across the business."

Mr Emery joined Drax in 2004 as production director and member of the executive director team responsible for steering the business to a listing on the London Stock Exchange in December 2005.

Over the past five years, the focus of his work has been to drive down carbon emissions through investments in plant efficiency, the development of biomass co-firing and the evaluation of carbon capture and storage.

In July this year, Drax Power Station reached the milestone saving of 20 million tonnes of carbon since it started burning sustainable biomass instead of coal, and is on track to deliver its plan to be a predominantly biomass fuelled generator by 2016, on time and on budget.

Mr Emery is also responsible for improving safety and reliability of the Drax operations. Over the last ten years, the company has been awarded eleven consecutive gold level awards by the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), for its commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill health prevention at work.

In his newer role as Drax Group’s operations director, Mr Emery oversees operational excellence with overall responsibility for the operation of the Group’s plant and equipment in the UK and US, essential for the security of biomass supply.

He has overall responsibility for all aspects of safety management, plant integrity, plant operations, engineering support, maintenance and plant design. Mr Emery also has responsibility for the development and execution of major strategic projects, our Group HR and IT functions, as well as leading the company’s carbon capture and storage activity.

Alongside announcing Mr Emery's departure, Drax Group has appointed the power station's chief executive Andy Koss as a director of the group, with effect from January 1.

Mr Cox said: "The directors are delighted to welcome Andy to the Board. Andy joined Drax in 2005 and has held senior roles in finance, regulation and is chief executive of the Group's principal operating subsidiary, Drax Power Limited. Andy brings valuable experience and wide ranging expertise to the Board."