Drax Power, owner of the UK's largest coal plant, co-firing biomass and petcoke, announces EBITDA of £184 million. The power station in North Yorkshire now produces 12.5 pct of its electricity from biomass.

"We have delivered an excellent performance across the business in the first six months of the year. The decision taken last year to accelerate our hedged position for 2010 at higher average margins than for 2009 has improved our earnings. Strong operational performance and continued tight cost control have further enhanced profitability." said Chief Executive of Drax, Dorothy Thompson.

The new biomass plant is expected to be expanded once prices for the fuel reduce and investment can be found:

,"We believe reliable and flexible electricity generation from biomass could and should make a significant contribution to meeting the UK's challenging renewables and climate change targets at relatively low cost. With seven years' experience of working with biomass we are well placed to drive this, and we look forward to working with the new Government to make it a reality." Dorothy said.

Underlying earnings per share were up 15 pct to 28.5p, whilst profit before tax went from £32 million to £134 million. Interim dividend went up to 14.1 pence (2009: 4.1p).

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