Megawatt Valley was due to the presence of Ferrybridge C (1966–2016), Eggborough (1967–) and Drax (1974–) coal-fired power stations. This is one of the few remaining concentrations of British coal-fired generation, the power stations are located close to historic coal-mining sites on the South Yorkshire Coalfield and to the River Aire. Drax is a large power station capable of generating 7% of UK electricity demand and, despite being the UK's cleanest and most-efficient coal-fired power station is Europe’s biggest single source of carbon dioxide emissions. The term Megawatt Valley, in relation to the Yorkshire power stations, has been mentioned ("What ever happened
Hugo Drax the Drax of the novel, he is implied to be French (as he was portrayed by French actor Michael Lonsdale), although this is never explicitly mentioned. Though Drax lives in California, he resides in a fully imported French château for which "every stone [was] brought from France" – Drax also supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but wasn't allowed to export it from France in a similar manner because the French government wouldn't issue him an export permit for it. Drax portrays himself as an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D-flat major (op. 28)