A NORTH Yorkshire power station has announced a sharp increase in profits and says it is well placed to play a major role in helping the UK to go green.

Drax power station, near Selby, announcing its half year results to June 30 yesterday, said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization - a key financial performance measure - were up 18 per cent to £120 million.

Chief Executive Dorothy Thompson said Drax had performed extremely well over the last six months and was well advanced with its long-term strategy of becoming a predominantly biomass-fuelled power provider.

“While there are elements outside our control, particularly regulatory challenges and weak commodity markets, the underlying fundamentals of the Group remain strong," she said.

“The UK needs to go green in an affordable way, and is looking to Drax to play a significant role.

"Through our continued transition to sustainable biomass, we are Europe’s largest single source of renewable energy, powering the UK’s homes and businesses with reliable, low carbon and affordable electricity."

She said Drax was uniquely placed to provide a solution to the UK’s needs over the decades ahead and expected the potential long-term value of the business to become increasingly evident.

"Importantly our business sector requires long-term investment and we need a stable policy and regulatory regime to support it. We look forward to continuing our discussions with Government to ensure we can deliver what the UK needs in the most effective way.”

A national newspaper has reported the chief executive as 'sparking infighting in the green energy industry' by claiming Britain’s fleet of wind and solar farms will fail to supply even 1pc of the UK’s power needs “with reasonable regularity.'

She is reported to have said that “aggregate wind farm and solar output in the UK can be expected to fall below 1pc of total electricity production with reasonable regularity," with her comments reportedly prompting an 'angry response' from a wind industry body.

However, a Drax spokesman dismissed the story, claiming the comments had been contained in a lengthy document and taken out of context.

The results come after Drax claimed earlier this month that Chancellor George Osborne's decision to scrap the climate change levy from August 1 would result in a £30 million drop in its pre-tax earnings, with a further fall of £60 million next year.