Hare Brewery, under the ownership of St Austell Brewery, has installed 608 new solar panels with the help of ZLC Energy Limited.
The new solar array, which takes up the entire roof space of the brewery’s distribution centre in Warmley, will generate an additional 230,511kWh electricity per year.
The brewery is expected to both be able to brew its beer and operate on the energy the panels produce, nearly 100% of which is projected to be consumed on-site.
This move by Cornwall-based St Austell Brewery is a conscious step towards the company’s efforts to reach its goal of reaching 50% energy consumption from renewables across all sites by 2030.
Elle Sambrook, St Austell Brewery’s head of sustainability, said: “This is a really big step towards our net zero plans to eliminate our avoidable emissions. We set ourselves an additional goal to increase our on-site green energy and reach 50% energy consumption from renewables across all sites by 2030.
“These solar panels are a big part of making that goal a reality and we are already at 40% onsite generation at Hare Brewery with this installation.”
Scotland’s solar capitalisation
England is not the only country looking to decarbonise breweries via solar. In January 2024, energy company EDF Renewables UK was granted the green light to develop a 4MW solar farm for the production of The Macallan’s single malt Scotch whisky in Craigellachie.
The Macallan Estate, situated in north-east Scotland, will use ground-mounted solar panels to deliver up to 50% of the daytime electricity needs at peak output, which could provide 30% of the site’s annual electricity demand.
Scotland as a whole has seen a significant uptick in solar panel usage, with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) reporting that small-scale solar installations increased by 174% in 2023 compared to 2020.
In total, nearly 26,000 solar panels were installed in Scotland in 2023, which marks the highest number of annual installations ever recorded by the scheme.