THE owners of an Irvine manufacturing plant have taken a major step towards their bid transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity.

GSK has activated a new 56-acre solar farm and two wind turbines at its site in town.

It is expected that this new technology will generate over half of the electricity required at the site each year - tripling their previous capacity to do so.

The move marks further progress towards GSK's wider plan to transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity across all sites by 2030.

The company's Irvine site is one of six manufacturing plants operated by GSK across the UK.

The large-scale fermentation and distillation required for its manufacturing processes means the Irvine site accounts for nearly a third of GSK’s energy demand in the UK.

Established in 1973, the 185-acre site recently celebrated 50 years of manufacture and employs over 250 people.

Zen Cai, site director, said: “We are incredibly proud of GSK Irvine’s commitment to sustainability, and we are delighted to announce the successful completion of our latest renewables project.

"Now over half of our site’s total electricity consumption will come from onsite renewables and with this milestone we’re pleased to be making a positive contribution to GSK’s net zero goals.”

The new solar farm and wind turbines will generate an estimated 45GWh of electricity per year.

The same amount of electricity generated by fossil fuels would emit approximately 9,100 tonnes of carbon per year.

They were built as part of a project first announced in 2021, where GSK invested through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with partner, The Farm Energy Company.

The solar farm and wind turbines join two existing wind turbines at Irvine, built in 2013 and 2014.

The site’s electricity is 100 per cent renewable, from either onsite generation or purchased electricity, and this new infrastructure will mean the company can generate a much higher proportion of the site’s current and future energy needs onsite.