THE GlenAllachie Distillery has declared it will invest in technology to reduce energy demand on its Speyside site by 50% after securing a “substantial grant”.
The distillery, which is owned by Scotch whisky veteran Billy Walker, said the reduction would come through the proposed implementation of technology known as mechanical vapour recompression (MVR). This will allow the distillery to capture low-grade waste from the stillhouse otherwise lost to the environment, and re-route it back into the stills.
GlenAllachie said it currently consumes an amount of energy which is average for the Scotch whisky industry, with around 70% used to power its four pot stills. It noted that reducing waste energy would decrease its carbon footprint “significantly”.
READ MORE: Whisky: Billy Walker sees distillery hit £20m turnover mark
The distillery is progressing the investment in the new technology after securing a grant from the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. The project will require energy firm SSE to upgrade local infrastructure and install a larger transformer to enable the technology to be integrated.
GlenAllachie said the upgrade will the distillery to progressively move away from using natural gas to eco-friendly electricity and alternative green energy sources, including biogas – which is already produced from the distillery’s co-products – and hydrogen when commercially available.
More than 130 solar panels will be installed by GlenAllachie in a neighbouring field to provide renewable power to the MVR technology. The distillery is also working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to modify its existing boiler, improving its controls and efficiency.
READ MORE: Speyside: GlenAllachie releases long-awaited peated malt
Richard Beattie, operations director at GlenAllachie, said: “We’re thrilled at the news of our successful grant application for a project that will help us as an SME to significantly boost our sustainability credentials. We are acutely aware of the climate crisis and strive to punch above our weight within the Scotch whisky industry to decarbonise our processes.
“Green technology tends to be very expensive during the initial phases of development. It can, therefore, often prevent smaller, independent firms from installing the equipment required to achieve their green ambitions. This cash injection from the SIETF, backed by the Scottish Government, is vital to facilitate such a move.
“We are pleased not only to receive the grant but also the significant support from Briggs of Burton, who, over recent years, have provided guidance on MVR projects and are now taking this technology to the next level.”
The new investment comes shortly after GlenAllachie upgraded the distillery’s visitor centre with the addition of a new bar and tasting lounge. New electric vehicle charging points, now powered by solar energy, were introduced for customer use earlier this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here