British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca is to build a new renewable energy plant to provide clean heat and power across UK sites, including two in the North West.
They have partnered with Future Biogas to build a renewable energy plant that will enable AstraZeneca to replace natural gas for heating and cooling at its sites with biomethane.
The deal will help the pharmaceutical firm to move closer to its goal of becoming a zero-carbon business by the end of 2025 and to achieve carbon negative by 2030. The company will also be transitioning to 100% electric vehicles to achieve these goals, according to the statement.
The facility will convert locally grown crops into about 125 GWh of biomethane capacity, equivalent to the heat required by 9,000 homes.
The project will also provide additional renewable gas to the UK gas grid.
Juliette White, Vice President Global SHE & Operations Sustainability at AstraZeneca, said: “At AstraZeneca, we are committed to operating in a responsible way that recognises the interconnection between the needs of patients, society and the limitations of our planet.
“We’re proud to be working in partnership with innovative organisations like Future Biogas to enable the sustainable discovery, development and manufacture of medicines and vaccines. Through such collaborations, we’re making progress on our ambition to become carbon zero across our operations by end of 2025 and carbon-negative across our value chain by 2030.”
Reference: https://www.powerengineeringint.com “AstraZeneca to power UK sites with biomethane in decarbonisation drive”
