Nothing like putting your feet up on a hot summer day and sipping a cold one, right? Well, now the companies making the beer are taking in the rays – and the trend toward solar brewing is showing dollar results in a very unwatered-down way. Across America, from craft breweries like Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, California, to the corporate beer giant Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri, the financial logic of making beer with solar power has become sparklingly clear. And as photovoltaic (PV) systems expand atop more and more US brewery roofs, so does the refreshing message to consumers that they can finally drink green.
»Solar is a prime way for breweries to get immediate results with lower dependence on the grid and lower bills – in our case, two-fifths to one-half reduction of our Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) feed,« says Rod DeWitt, director of plant engineering and process control at Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville, California. The regional brewer – whose rich, copper-colored, award-winning Boont Amber Ale is distributed in most states throughout the country – installed more than 750 rooftop-mounted PV panels on its plant in 2005 at a cost of $860,000. Today, their 125 kW solar array means a falloff in monthly electricity bills of between $5,000 and $9,000.
»As an incidental benefit,« says DeWitt, »the panels create an insulating layer on the hot side of the building, which in turn reduces the ambient temperature inside by 20 degrees, and the refrigeration system load by 25 percent.« And »most importantly,« he adds, »we have the satisfaction of knowing that we are doing our part.«
In some cases, however, »doing our part« to make beer a green enterprise hasn’t yet translated into big financial savings. Last year, Odell Brewing Co., which sells 50,000 barrels annually of its classic brews like Cutthroat Porter, 90 Schilling and Easy Street Wheat, installed a 78 kW PV system on its Fort Collins, Colorado plant for $410,000. But after claiming the 30-percent federal tax credit and receiving a $50,000 city grant, which reduced his total out-of-pocket cost to $237,000, the company’s founder and owner Doug Odell still isn’t convinced about the dollar payoff of going solar. For him, though, the idea of what he’s doing – and what his customers know he’s doing – counts more.
»From a manufacturing standpoint, I’d never buy something with a 10-year payback. It’s still cheaper to buy municipal power – so we certainly didn’t do it to save money,« says Odell, whose tap room features a large, meter-connected TV monitor that shows guests how much solar power the brewery generates each day, its total energy savings throughout the year, and up-to-the-minute tallies of the pounds of CO2 reduced.
With nearly 400 panels covering 11,000 ft2 of roof space, Odell’s solar array takes care of about 40 percent of the brewery’s energy needs. He estimates his annual savings right now come out to only about $10,000 – until, that is, the cost of electricity increases.
»But when it comes to environmental issues, there’s value that you can’t measure in dollars,« he says. »I think people want to know the story behind what they’re buying, what we believe in and what we stand for. This is a great opportunity to showcase a solar energy system to the public.«
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At the end of the day, Odell admits, »I enjoy seeing our lower electric bills.«
Brewers tap the sun
Odell and Anderson Valley are just two examples of the excitement bubbling these days around solar-produced beer, especially in the western states. Another Fort Collins, Colorado brewery called New Belgium recently activated its 870-panel, 200 kW PV system. And Stone Brewing Co., in Escondido, California, installed a whopping 312 kW rooftop array on its facilities in 2008.
In the case of pale ale master, Sierra Nevada Brewery, PV already accounts for one-third of the company’s power-generating needs. After taking advantage of federal credits and incentives through the California Solar Initiative, Sierra Nevada’s $1 million system boasts more than 10,000 solar panels and occupies some 185,000 ft2. Between its 1.4 MW rooftop array and the 500 kW solar-outfitted structure mounted in its parking lot, the company – whose annual churn-out of 700,000 barrels makes it one of the top producers in the nation – expects its PV system will pay for itself in a brisk 6 to 7 years.
Though if it weren’t for all the rebates, says Mandi McKay, Sierra Nevada’s assistant sustainability coordinator, they’d be looking at more like 12 to 13 years.
»Almost every warehouse we have is covered and we’re adding a fourth warehouse this year for another 650 panels,« she says. And there’s no sign that business is slowing down; on the contrary, founder and CEO Ken Grossman is presiding over Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary this year with a dedication to making business grow – and grow green – that’s never been stronger. »There’s even a section of our rooftop that wasn’t covered under our rebate-incentives plan, but [Grossman] did it anyway because he feels it’s the right thing to do,« says McKay. »He wants to generate clean energy and see this [business model] become more popular. « And »after the payback,« she adds, »basically you’re earning.«
Beer-watts on a large scale
Which is something you don’t need to tell to the titan of US beer makers, Anheuser-Busch. The company discovered the financial gains of brewing beer with renewables as far back as 25 years ago.
The company, which complements its domestic brands Bud and Bud Light with more sophisticated Euro-pilsners like Beck’s and Stella Artois, was a pioneer in the 1980s when it developed anaerobic digesters – using micro-organisms to convert waste effluent into biogas that it burned in the brewery’s boilers to generate steam. Today, Anheuser-Busch’s Bio-Energy Recovery System, or BERS, generates 16 to 18 percent of the company’s energy at nearly a dozen brewery plants across the nation. By turning recaptured nutrients back into heat, the beer maker has created a closed natural loop, offset its fuel and wastewater costs, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and, meanwhile, became the largest operator of anaerobic digesters in the world.
Now, the company has gone further with the installation of two massive PV spreads: a 1 MW flat-paneled, ground-mounted, sun-tracking system built by SunEdison LLC, which opened in January at the company’s plant in Fairfield, California. And a sweeping 3,000-panel, 600 kW roof-mounted array, occupying 2.5 acres, was completed by Orion Energy Systems this spring at its Newark, New Jersey, facility. Anheuser-Busch is currently working on a second phase at the Newark plant that will more than double its PV capacity to 1.3 MW, covering a total 5.5 acres with panels and generating some 523,000 kW hours of electricity per year – estimated to cover 5 percent of the brewery’s peak energy demands.
»It’s an overall strategy to increase our renewable energy component,« says Greg Kellerman, director of utilities and wastewater at the company’s headquarters in St. Louis. »We’re expecting to reduce costs and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions at the same.« In addition, the company has partnered up with Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG), which will offer renewable energy certificates (RECs) to businesses and individuals working similarly to offset fossil fuel emissions.
Talk about »green beer«: right now, one out of every six 12 oz. cans that Anheuser-Busch sells in the US is brewed using all renewable energy. (The company’s goal is to have at least 15 percent of its total operations running on clean energy by the end of this year). And while the speed of financial payback isn’t known yet, »if this works out for us, it may open the door and give us more opportunities for PV installations,« says Kellerman.
Fermenting in the future
So is PV the next big thing for US beer makers? Judging by the number of panels going up and the savings that are already in pocket, it would seem to be the case.
»As oil becomes more and more scarce, as people pay more and more for energy, they’re just going to have to [go solar],« says DeWitt of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company, a once-tiny craft operation that now produces 30,000 barrels a year.
»Economics drives politics; it also drives business. As a brewery, you look at where you’re getting your electricity, because otherwise you’re just paying PG&E megabucks for megawatts,« he says. And besides, »people are honestly concerned with their carbon footprint.«
Now, when you take a slug of PV-produced lager, you can swallow a little easier.