AstraZeneca has announced a partnership to build new a renewable energy plant to provide clean heat and power for their site in Macclesfield.

AstraZeneca will work with British clean energy company Future Biogas to build a new renewable energy plant to generate biomethane as a substitute for natural gas, which will provide a renewable source of heat and power for AstraZeneca's site on Charter Way.

This initiative will also provide additional renewable gas to the UK gas grid, and hope to start a chain reaction in replacing fossil fuel gas with biogas.

Biogas facilities significantly curb the greenhouse effect: as the plants lower methane emissions by capturing this harmful gas and using it as fuel. It also reduces the reliance on shale or natural gas, which are non-limitless fossil fuels.

Transitioning to 100% renewable energy for heat and power is core to the pharmaceutical companies' Ambition Zero Carbon commitment to be zero carbon across its operations by the end of 2025 and carbon negative by 2030.

Under the agreement, Guildford company Future Biogas will build a new biomethane plant in East Anglia, adding renewable energy capacity to existing UK infrastructure.

Outside of Macc, the new plant will also power AstraZeneca sites in Cambridge, Speke, and Luton.

Heat and power are critical to the manufacture of medicines and therefore decarbonising the healthcare supply chain depends on access to clean sources of heat.

Alongside clean heat and power, to achieve its net zero goal, AstraZeneca will transition to 100% electric vehicles, 100% renewable electricity and launch next-generation respiratory inhalers.

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."

Juliette White was previously awarded with a CBE by the Queen in June this year.

The new Future Biogas plant which will power their current and upcoming Macclesfield buildings will have the capacity to provide up to 125 Gigawatt hours of biomethane, equivalent to the energy demand to heat over 9,000 homes. Construction will begin in 2023.

This new plant will utilise crops grown locally to the site, supporting the rural economy. Feedstock crops are integrated into farm rotations and are grown on farmland that already forms part of agricultural systems.

Adding feedstocks grown for anaerobic digestion into the rotation offers farmers diverse cropping opportunities which enhances the sustainability of the farming sector and supports the circular economy in the UK.

Crops will be grown with regenerative agriculture practices, promoting nutrient cycling through wider cropping rotations, minimising soil disturbance to limit carbon release from soils, and helping to build soil organic matter and soil health.

Philipp Lukas, CEO of Future Biogas commented: "Future Biogas is delighted to be working with AstraZeneca on this ground-breaking green energy solution.

"AstraZeneca set themselves a very ambitious and challenging net zero target which sets a benchmark for their sector as well as global corporates more widely. We are proud to be able to help on this journey."

Through the partnership with Future Biogas, AstraZeneca will access high quality bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) through the Northern Lights partnership in Norway, a joint venture supported by the Norwegian Government.

Carbon dioxide generated through the Future Biogas plant will be captured and transported to the Northern Lights storage facility, where it will be permanently sequestered 2.6km under the seabed. As a result, biomethane production has the potential to be not just net zero but net negative.

Future Biogas is one of the UK's largest biogas producers which currently operates 10 biogas plants. But it will be the first time they have powered anything in Macclesfield.

AstraZeneca are one of the biggest employers in our town.

See also: AstraZeneca Macclesfield to support Silklife Foodbank this Christmas

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