Ten young apprentices were crowned winners as the energy industry stars of the future took centre stage at the annual Drax Group Apprentice Awards.

The ceremony, held near Selby in North Yorkshire, brought together apprentices from across the company’s UK operations.

The big winner of the night was Josh Smith, 28, from Oban, for his work at Drax’s iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan Power Station.

Local winners included: Business Apprentice of the year, Cyber Security (Year 3, Level 5-7) – Shane Panizales, age 26; Business Apprentice of the year, Human Resources (Year 2, Level 2-4) - Erin Rodger, age 17, from Thorpe Willoughby near Selby; Technical Apprentice of the year (Year 1) - Jack Woods, age 21 from Willoughby; Technical Apprentice of the year (Year 2) - Sam Easthill, age 23 from Cliffe; Technical Apprentice of the year (Year 3) - Declan Farmer, age 20 from Gilberdyke.

The four-year craft and technical apprenticeship initiative offers new recruits an opportunity to gain skills in Mechanical, Electrical, and Control & Instrumentation. Drax also offers apprenticeships in HR, cybersecurity, IT, facilities, and network security.

As Drax progresses plans to expand its new pumped storage hydro site at Cruachan in Scotland, as well as deploying bioenergy with carbon capture (BECCS) at the power station in Selby, the company says opportunities for apprentices within the renewable power industry have never been greater.