THE Government's Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank has chosen a £1.2 million biomass boiler project at the Tomatin Distillery near Inverness as its first investment in Scotland.
The bank is contributing £577,000 via its £50 million Energy Saving Investments portfolio that is managed for the bank by London-headquartered fund manager Equitix.
The remaining £600,000 is coming from private investors in the Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund.
Green Investment Bank chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said: "As well as significant emission reductions, the project will provide a boost to the local economy."
The wood-fired boiler installation at Tomatin Distillery, 16 miles south of Inverness, will replace an oil fired boiler.
The boiler will use wood pellet fuel manufactured at Invergordon by a company called Balcas using renewable electrical and thermal energy and raw materials from local forests.
As a result, carbon dioxide emissions from the distillery are expected to be cut by more than 96,500 tonnes over the 20-year life of the investment.
The investors hope to profit through payments from the Japanese-owned distillery and income from the Government's Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Tomatin's fuel bills are expected to fall significantly.
Mr Kingsbury signalled that the whisky industry could benefit from further investment by the bank.
"We have a strong pipeline of investments in Scot- land and hope to be able to announce further investments in Scottish distilleries, as well as other projects, very soon," he said.
A key export industry, distillers are increasingly turning their attentions to green energy schemes.
The world's largest spirits company Diageo installed biomass boilers at Roseisle, its giant new Speyside malt distillery, when it opened in 2010. Rather than using wood, this is powered by spent grain from the distilling process.
Similar technology is used at Diageo's Glenlossie malt distillery in Elgin and its Cameronbridge grain whisky distillery in Fife, which also has the technology to generate gas from some of the liquid by-products.
Earlier this week, it was announced that commercial operations have started at the Helius CoRDe plant in Rothes, which generates electricity for the national grid and produces liquid animal feed from the by-products of whisky distilling.
Tomatin, which claims that distilling on the site dates back to the 15th century, was bought by Japanese wine and spirits distributor Takara Shuzo in 1986.
It sells its products, which include the Antiquary range of blends, into around 40 export markets.
The Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore said: "With the Bank confident that more Scottish investments will be announced in the near future, I am certain that (the Green Investment Bank) will play a hugely important role in realising Scotland's enormous green energy potential, ensuring that we are at the centre of the UK's low carbon economy."
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