THE boss of Drax Power Station has welcomed Government plans she says boost its plans for the future.

Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax, said the new proposals would help provide reassurance for investors and low-cost fuel for customers.

She was speaking after the Government published its electricity market reform consultation, which Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said included a new mechanism for renewable energy sources.

Ms Thompson said the proposals vindicated its investment in biomass. She said: “We have long been convinced of the many benefits biomass can bring to the future GB energy mix, and welcome the Government’s recognition of biomass as the only flexible renewable technology.

“All important is the detail, and we must now assess the package of measures against our expectation to see measures which will support large volumes of cost-effective, reliable and flexible electricity generation from biomass.”

One of the main proposals in the consultation is to change the way that providers of renewable energy are paid, so instead of being at the mercy of the electricity companies, power firms can set an agreed price with the Government, under a “feed-in tariff” system.

Ms Thompson said that move was particularly welcome.

The company said it needed to look in closer detail at how the other announcements would affect the business, but said that in principle they also strengthened its case to invest in biomass.

It said the measures represented the “single biggest change to the electricity sector since privatisation of the industry 20 years ago”.

Drax has already completed an £80 million investment in a co-firing plant at its power station near Selby, and, in a joint venture with Siemens Project Ventures, it is building three biomass-only generating plants in the UK, including ones at the Selby site and at Immingham, Lincs.

However, the co-firing plant is unable to be used to its full capacity because uncertainty over Government subsidies has made it uneconomic.

A second review, looking into the support available for renewable electricity, will be speeded up to provide investor certainty, the Government announced earlier this month.