Anheuser-Busch, known for brewing such notable beers as Budweiser, Michelob, and Beck’s, will now be known for something completely different: the company has installed a wind turbine at its Fairfield, CA brewery.
The new $6 million, 340-foot tall 1.5 megawatt wind turbine made by General Electric was installed at the company’s 700,000 square foot Northern California plant through a partnership with Foundation Windpower, which will manage the project for the next 20 years. The turbine generates 3,500 megawatt hours of energy per year, enough to supply 20 percent of the facility’s needs and produce 25,000 cases of beer each day while offsetting 3,003 tons of carbon annually.
The company took advantage of tax incentives available through California’s renewable energy mandate, which has a goal of serving 33 percent of loads from renewable sources by 2020, to help pay for the project.
This new turbine is the first wind energy project installed by company and is a welcome addition to other sources of renewable energy already in use at the plant. There are 6,500 solar panels installed on-site generating 4 percent of the facility’s needs, and wastewater is being reclaimed and converted into biogas, replacing about 15 percent of its natural gas needs.
According to plant General Manager Kevin Finger, “when the external conditions are right, we’ll have the capacity to produce up to 50 percent of our brewery’s electricity needs via wind and solar power.” If knowing your favorite beer was partially brewed with help from renewable energy doesn’t make you want to open up a cold one, I don’t know what could.
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