BrewDog has commissioned a green gas plant that will power the production of more than 176 million pints of beer a year at its Ellon headquarters in Aberdeenshire.
The new £12 million bio-energy plant, formally unveiled today, will mean 7,500 less tonnes of carbon emissions every year when running at full capacity. Later this year BrewDog plans to begin using surplus green gas to fuel delivery vehicles, as well as helping to decarbonise the national grid.
Since the brewery in Ellon opened in 2013, BrewDog has reduced the volume of water it takes to make its beer by more than 50 per cent, but there is still waste created by the brewing process. The anaerobic digester will help the company recycle most of the 200 million litres of wastewater produced every year in the beer-making process, as well as generating bio-methane to power the brewery’s boilers.
The plant combines the wastewater with spent yeast and hops from the brewing process to be “digested” by bacteria to make biomethane. Over the coming years, BrewDog also plans to use the CO2 created by the digester to carbonate its beer.
When fully operational, the digester will create around 200 cubic metres of biomethane per hour – equivalent to around 23,000 MWh of energy per year and enough to heat more than 1,500 homes.
The facility is part of BrewDog’s £50m investment plan to slash carbon emissions per hectolitre of beer by 35% versus its baseline in 2019. As well as powering the brewery, the biomethane produced will be used to create compressed natural gas to power delivery trucks, which will deliver the beer to its Glasgow distribution hub.
“Our ambition is nothing short of making BrewDog beer the most planet-friendly beer on Earth, and we’ve taken giant strides towards that goal with our new bio-energy plant," said Sarah Warman, the company's director of sustainability.
“Our number one sustainability goal is to reduce emissions, and we want to lead the way for the entire brewing industry. We want all our teams to feel like the work they do supports our mission to protect the planet.”
Change at top of traditional Highland construction firm
Daniel Tweats is to succeed his father, Mike, as managing director of Highland building, restoration, conservation and engineering contractor Kishorn Heritage, as the company undertakes a recruitment drive.
Stonemasonry specialist Mike Tweats founded the West Highland family business, which noted that it had worked for “many of Scotland’s largest estates and most historic castles”, in the mid-1990s, and he will continue as a director and consultant.
Martin Gilbert’s AssetCo asserts its commitment to Scotland
AssetCo, the acquisitive investment firm chaired by Martin Gilbert, has flagged an “improvement in positioning and performance” of its Edinburgh-based Saracen Fund Managers, as it reported a loss of £2.6 million for the six months ended March 31.
The wealth manager said assets under management at Saracen, which it acquired for £2.75m in May 2021, stood at £113.2m on March 31 after the business was relaunched with an updated brand. Saracen had around £120m of assets under management at the time of the deal.
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