Running a business is much harder for a woman

She’s risen to the top of British industry, but the boss of Drax declares . . .

There are few more dramatic industrial views in Britain than the bulbous, belching chimneys of the Drax power plant which dominate the North Yorkshire skyline.

What drivers passing this muscular vista may not realise is that the chief executive in charge of the plant, Dorothy Thompson, is almost alone as a women running one of the country’s great engineering projects.

Under Thompson, the Drax complex pioneered a controversial switch from burning carbon-laden coal to greener biomass products largely imported from the United States.

Thompson, a slight, elegant woman who balances a full family life with one of the most testing jobs in the power industry, is unrepentant about the switch to burning biomass.

The process of shipping wood pellets and forest fibre products from America’s vast wooded areas to the UK has made the 56-year-old the target of the green lobby and climate change sceptics.

‘The carbon footprint of bringing a truck from Scotland down to Drax in Yorkshire is greater than the carbon footprint of the ship journey across the Atlantic for our pellets. You are doing it at such scale and in such an efficient mode of transport,’ Thompson insists over coffee in Drax’s London office.

‘People have a poor picture of the US’s vast commercial forests that are 12 times the total area of the UK.’

As the chief executive of a worldspanning energy group, Thompson acknowledges it has not always been easy on her family.

‘It is much harder for a woman,’ she says. ‘ You have to be very committed. Keeping the balance with your family is really hard work and very challenging.

‘I’m lucky my family is very happy. But I would never want to convey the impression that it is an easy thing.’

In spite of the lack of women in heavy engineering and energy industries Thompson says she encountered few obstacles as she climbed the corporate heights to lead a top FTSe 250 company.

Shesays: ‘I am fortunate in that I’m of a generation that came along where people actually thought women should have a role.’

Not only has Thompson been instrumental in converting three of Drax’s six vast generators from burning coal to forest products, she is also responsible for building Drax’s own port facilities deep in the American south, at Baton rouge in Louisiana, and vast industrial facilities which turn forest products into the wood pellets shipped to the UK.

‘Our strategy is to get at least 30pc self-supply and we currently own the capacity for about 1.5m tons and want to get it to 2.5m tons,’ she says.

Thompson believes that Drax’s investment in biomass is a great option for the UK and is fiercely critical of grandiose strategic decisions taken by the Government, in particular the new nuclear plant at hinkley Point in Somerset.

‘I always thought it was a brave project because it uses unproven technology,’ she argues.

She also challenges the economics. Thompson says the final cost to the consumer will be far higher than has been publicly disclosed once ‘you take into account all the backup and systems costs’.

Moreover, as the largest unit on the system she says there is an additional ‘ hidden cost’ which has to be built into the grid for the size of failure. recognising the significance of what she has just said she quickly adds: ‘I am going to get slaughtered by eDF for this.’

It is not just eDF that is in her line of fire. She also questions the value of new interconnectors being built which will link Britain to Norway and Germany.

‘If you look at the back-up and support costs last year to National Grid they came from managing the risk in the interconnectors. A significant part of the grid costs go to the consumer,’ she says.

In contrast, Thompson has been quick to welcome the Government’s ‘Faraday Challenge’ to boost expertise in battery technology in the UK.

She is adamant that investing in what she calls ‘good biomass’ is a valuable energy option.

‘Bad biomass would be taking from an endangered forest or taking from a forest of special interest. So you have to be careful you are taking it from the right area. We have the strictest standards.’

Drax is meticulous, in her view, in measuring the carbon footprint all the way to Yorkshire.

The numbers are ‘audited and checked’ and it says it can show that ‘we save 80pc relative to our coal generation’.

‘All the evidence shows that we are the lowest- cost, large- scale renewable for the consumer,’ Thompson adds.

even those who see her advocacy and investment in biomass as bizarre and unnecessary would have to concede that, in a largely male world, she is a terrific role model at a time when there is a huge push to get more women into engineering.

her next challenge is what to do with the Drax plants still burning coal. Thompson has promised investors an answer by 2025. She says: ‘The thought is, you take out all the parts to do with coal and replace them with gas and possibly some battery response as well.’

Herenthusiasm is infectious. She says: ‘I love industrial businesses and I think they are really interesting. The challenge is how you run a physical asset effectively and efficiently.’

And Drax is now at the forefront of efforts to increase the number of women in industry.

She says: ‘I think one of the best ways of encouraging women is going out into schools saying, “This is interesting, this is enjoyable and you can contribute a lot to society.” We have ambassadors who go into schools.’

‘We have 200,000 people coming to our Yorkshire visitors’ centre each year and it is refreshing that we are making it really open to children and interactive.’

And it is starting to work for Drax at a corporate level.

‘We have more women apprenticeships and also as qualified engineers. It’s growing from the bottom up.’

Thompson may never convince her vocal critics that biomass makes much green sense.

But the drive she has demonstrated in a testosterone-fuelled industrial setting makes her a terrific role model for a new generation of women engineers.