Dairy company Lactalis has announced the construction of two biomass plants that will supply the energy needs of its production centres in Villarrobledo (Albacete) and Granada. The Spanish company Magnon, which specializes in renewable energy production using forestry and agricultural biomass, will be responsible for their implementation.

The French agri-food company, which owns brands such as Puleva, El Ventero, and President, will invest more than €12 million in the new facilities: €6.06 million in Granada and €6.35 million in Albacete. The projects will be partially co-financed by the PERTE industrial decarbonization program and will help Lactalis reduce its total Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions in Spain by 76% compared to 2019. Each plant will create 20 direct and indirect jobs when they begin operating, according to forecasts in June 2026.

Innovative technologies
Magnon, with more than twenty years of experience in biomass energy production, will implement innovative technologies for the efficient generation and management of renewable thermal energy. The design incorporates advanced solutions to ensure optimal performance, significant emissions reduction, and minimal environmental impact. In addition, by-products such as ash and slag will be managed according to sustainability criteria and evaluated for use as agricultural fertilizers or alternative fuels, fully integrating the circular economy into daily operations.

Each plant will be equipped with a 10-ton-per-hour, 16-bar (g) saturated-steam boiler, which will be fuelled by certified agroforestry biomass from neighbouring areas. Thanks to this technology, natural gas will be replaced by renewable thermal energy. The Albacete plant will have a generation capacity of 37,000 MWh, and the Granada plant will have a capacity of around 40,000MWh. Both will complement the photovoltaic plants that already supply them.

The biomass used at both locations will be fully certified in accordance with European sustainability standards. As it will come from the respective surrounding areas, the logistics footprint will also be reduced, in addition to promoting the use of local agroforestry resources.

Industrial decarbonisation strategy
David Saliot, CEO of Lactalis Spain and Portugal, says that this project represents "a new milestone in our industrial decarbonisation strategy in Spain. At Lactalis, we are making decisive and early progress toward the group's global objectives, thanks to initiatives such as this one, which enable us to accelerate the energy transition in our factories. The commissioning of these biomass plants, together with other investments in renewable energies, demonstrates that we are not only meeting our climate commitments, but exceeding them with vision, rigor, and ambition."

For Magnon CEO Guillermo Negro, "it is a pleasure to be able to execute and manage this project for a company like Lactalis, a leader in the agri-food sector. This collaboration allows us to contribute all our knowledge and experience in sustainable energy solutions, with an industrial approach that is efficient and committed to the environment. We are proud to contribute to a real transformation of the energy model in the food industry."

^{Photo: Lactalis}