THE last local obstacle to the construction of a new green power station at Drax and the creation of hundreds of jobs has been cleared.

North Yorkshire County Council’s planning committee voted unanimously to approve the plans for the £700 million power plant which would be fuelled by bio-mass crops. It is planned the power station would generate 290MW of power – enough for 500,000 homes – compared with Drax’s 4,000MW.

A final decision about whether to grant planning consent to what will be called the Ouse Renewable Energy Plant will now be taken by the Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change, probably in the middle of next year. But a spokesman for Drax said the company was optimistic, given the level of support from parish, district and county councils. If the green light is given, construction would hopefully begin towards the end of next year, creating up to 850 jobs. Once complete, there will be around 150 permanent jobs at the plant.

Brian Restall, project manager at Drax Power, said: “The UK needs biomass-fired power stations to help meet the national renewable energy targets.

“We are extremely pleased that both the local and county planning authorities have offered such unequivocal support to Drax’s renewable energy growth strategy.”

“The plant offers excellent prospects to people in the region.”

If all goes to plan the energy plant would be working at full capacity by 2013, burning biomass fuels that include purpose grown energy crops, forestry residues, agricultural by-products as well as recovered timber and paper. The output created will be the equivalent to the electricity generated by 460 large scale wind turbines. The six-hectare site between Barlow and Long Drax is considered particularly suitable as a location for a dedicated biomass-fired power station due to its proximity to the existing infrastructure, including connection to the electricity transmission network, water and transport facilities.

The Ouse Renewable Energy Plant is expected to save 1,850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions compared to the output of conventional power station with a similar power output.