Black & Veatch appointed to Drax Technical Services Framework

Framework win with major energy generator increases Black & Veatch’s growing UK power presence

REDHILL, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Major UK power provider Drax has awarded Black & Veatch a role on the company’s Technical Services Framework.

Drax’s existing biomass and hydro renewable power generation assets provide power for the equivalent of more than 5.1 million homes. In addition to supporting these assets Black & Veatch’s role encompasses new-build and enhancement capital projects as well as - looking to the NetZero future - research into new and emerging technologies, such as bioenergy carbon capture and storage. The nature and delivery of Black & Veatch’s work will help realise Drax’s ambition to become carbon negative by 2030.

“Being appointed to the framework is a major statement that further highlights Black & Veatch’s full capabilities in the power infrastructure space,” commented Paul Harmer, Black & Veatch’s head of conventional generation, UK.

The framework will be over an initial three-year period, providing Drax with additional engineering resource supporting its efforts to manage the intermittent profile of renewable generation of the wider grid, and boost security of supply. Black & Veatch will provide the company with:

• Additional operational and commercial performance through technical capability and capacity
• Engineering and technical support to augment internal team resources
• Support programme management and project delivery, from product development through to decommissioning

“To provide Drax with strength in depth we will be using not just our UK power professionals, but expertise from across our global power business. For the last six years Black & Veatch has ranked second in Power, in the USA’s influential ENR Top 500 Design Firms report. This gives a sense of the world-class talent Drax will be able to draw upon,” Harmer added.

The Drax win comes at a significant time for Black & Veatch’s global power business with the recent announcement that the company will cease participation in any new coal-based power design and construction.

Editor’s Notes:

Other recent successes for Black & Veatch’s Europe energy team include:

• Securing an extension to its technical services framework with E.ON’s Business and Community Solutions Business. Consultancy and engineering support covers E.ON’s industrial CHP, biomass and distributed generation assets.
• Delivering financial close for ING Bank on three windfarms in the Irish Republic
• Securing UK energy regulator Ofgem’s Renewable Obligation Statistical Audit Programme
• Authoring a first of a kind report on MeyGen Phase 1, which will help the commercial viability of tidal stream energy
• Deploying digital twin technology to support the optimisation and cost reduction of Orbital’s floating tidal turbines

About Black & Veatch

Black & Veatch is an employee-owned engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries by addressing the resilience and reliability of our world's most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2019 were US$3.7 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media.