Drax Power Station, a converted coal-fired plant in North Yorkshire that generates approximately 6% of the United Kingdom’s electricity, has been found to have failed to report the sourcing of wood pellets derived from primary forests during the 2020-21 period.

The station, which burns wood pellets and has received billions of pounds in government subsidies under renewable energy schemes, is required to report whether its wood is sourced from natural, previously untouched forests.

Last year, Drax was issued a £25 million penalty by the energy regulator Ofgem after an investigation revealed that the company had misreported sustainability data.

According to records obtained by the BBC, Drax did not declare that a significant proportion of the wood pellets it burned in 2020-21—totaling just over 1.2 million tonnes—came from wood harvested from primary forests in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.

Public logging records indicate that Drax has held logging licences in British Columbia and has sourced whole trees from primary and old-growth forests, despite its own sustainability criteria stating that the company will "avoid damage or disturbance to high carbon forests," which are defined as primary forests.

Drax has stated that it does not own forests or sawmills, no longer bids for logging licences, and has ceased sourcing wood from certain sites after requests from the British Columbia government, though it continues to source wood from other public forests.

The criteria for biomass sustainability in the United Kingdom do not currently prohibit the use of whole trees from primary forests for wood pellets.

Ofgem has stressed that accurate sustainability data is essential for monitoring the extent of wood sourced from primary forests and sawlogs, given the implications for carbon emissions and biodiversity.

Following the previous investigation and penalty, Ofgem confirmed that it had directed Drax to undertake a full independent, external audit of its global supply chain profiling data.

An Ofgem spokesperson stated that further evidence emerging from this audit may prompt additional investigations.

Drax has not provided further details regarding the misreporting and did not respond to inquiries about whether the misreporting had misled government bodies or the regulator.

The company has described the earlier identified misreporting as "technical in nature" and asserted that it did not affect the levels of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) earned.

Recent figures from Drax indicate that in 2023 only about 2.5% of the pellets used at the power station were sourced from British Columbia, with the majority coming from designated public forests.

Drax’s current renewable subsidy schemes are set to expire in 2027, and the government is expected to announce an extension of these subsidies in the near future.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero stated that the issues identified in large-scale biomass generation were unacceptable and confirmed that Ofgem had required an additional audit to ensure that misreporting does not recur.