The Pulse
Drax, Brookfield, Radiant and Qai announce GW-scale data centre partnership; full development could potentially exceed £20bn
Drax, Brookfield, Radiant and Qai have announced a partnership to develop data centre capacity at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. The phased plan targets up to 100MW in its first phase, with later capacity ambitions extending beyond
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Investment in the full North Yorkshire development could potentially exceed £20bn
Drax, Brookfield and Radiant plan to jointly develop, deliver and operate gigawatt-scale data centre capacity at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. The partnership was announced on 3 November 2026. The Brookfield-Qai AI infrastructure joint venture will provide backing for the project; Drax describes the development partnership as being between Drax, Brookfield and Radiant.
Brookfield estimates that investment in the full development could potentially exceed £20bn, including an initial £2.5bn as part of the first phase. The companies say the partnership brings together AI infrastructure expertise with the land and power needed to deploy data centre capacity at pace to meet the UK’s AI demands. Radiant is Brookfield’s UK-headquartered compute infrastructure platform.
Drax says the project aligns with the Government’s AI sovereignty and reindustrialisation ambitions. The company describes the power station as central to UK energy security and says it has supported the country’s growth for more than 50 years. The development could support a long-term future for the site, which employs local workers and supplies electricity. The companies say the project could also support Yorkshire and the UK’s economies.
The companies plan to develop the site in phases
The first phase is targeting up to 100MW, with operations targeted from Q1 2028. Phase two has an ambition to ramp up to 500MW of capacity between 2028 and 2031. Phase three has an ambition to develop additional capacity post 2031.
Progression of the first phase is subject to the timely progression of planning, regulatory and network approvals from the Government and system operator, and securing a suitable tenant. Drax says a community consultation on the plans will begin shortly, with the formal planning process following afterward. The company is targeting the start of the planning process in the coming months. It says the first phase also requires the necessary regulatory and network approvals.
The Drax Power Station estate covers 1,000 acres and has 4GW of grid access, 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation and cooling systems. Its proximity to the UK fibre network is also cited as an advantage for developing data centres. Drax says the station is one of the few UK sites able to provide large-scale reliable power directly to data centre customers using existing and underutilised generation capacity.
The companies say the plans align with the Data Centre Covenant
The partners welcome the Government’s new Data Centre Covenant, which provides a pathway to accelerate time to power and planning for strategically important data centres. Their initial assessment is that the project aligns with its criteria, including energy security, local community benefits, environmental standards, reindustrialisation and secure infrastructure for the UK. The companies say the project is intended to support the UK’s access to secure infrastructure.
The partners expect to establish a voluntary community benefits fund in consultation with communities around the site. The fund would be separate from and additional to planning obligations and Drax’s existing community initiatives. The companies say the community consultation will begin shortly, followed by the formal planning process.
“We are proud to expand our UK AI compute footprint with Drax. This is a unique opportunity for the UK’s AI ecosystem to build at scale. By designing, building and operating from the UK, it will give British researchers, startups and enterprises access to frontier compute at home. Drax has powered Britain for more than fifty years. Together we can power its AI economy for the next fifty.”
Radiant CEO, Mahdi Yahya