Wood fuel for power station. Chopped up willow wood for use in a coal-fired power station (cooling towers and chimney seen in the background). The wood will be chopped into fine pieces and burnt instead of coal to produce electricity. This dual use of wood and coal is more sustainable than just using coal. Using wood also produces less carbon dioxide, one of the causes of global warming. This is the Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, UK. It started using wood in 2004, the first power station to do so in the UK. As of 2006, Drax is the largest, cleanest and most efficient of the UK's coal-fired power stations. It can burn 36,000 tones of coal a day to produce 4,000 megawatts of power, around 7% of the UK's electricity needs. It was built from 1974-1986.