South African Breweries (SAB) has signed a power purchase agreement with industrial-scale biogas waste-to-energy company Bio2Watt.
The renewable energy will be supplied from the Cape Dairy Biogas Plant when it becomes commercially operational, according to Businesstech.
This is in line with holding company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global 2025 sustainability targets for climate action – 100% of its purchased electricity will come from renewable sources and carbon emissions will be reduced by 25% across its value chain.
‘We have made a global commitment to exploring renewables to reduce carbon emissions and reach 100% contracted renewable electricity by 2025,’ said SAB procurement director for Africa Kyle Day.
‘We also believe we have a duty to ease the pressure on the national grid. Through this partnership, we are proud to progress on both fronts as we make our way to a cleaner, greener and more self-sustainable future.’
Although the plant is still in the process of being built, it will make use of waste collected from one of South Africa’s largest dairy farms. Over 7 000 cows on the farm will contribute to the slurry manure the plant will use. The slurry will include a mix of other wastes from the surrounding region to produce renewable electricity.
‘Under this power purchase agreement and installed renewable electricity, SAB will achieve 23% contracted renewable electricity,’ says vice president of procurement and sustainability in Africa Conor Ruff.
SAB’s breweries in South Africa already use solar power, which is being expanded. The Alrode brewery in Johannesburg is also using a biogas facility.
‘As we accelerate our sustainability strategy, we are looking forward to collaborating with more partners in the renewable energy space,’ Ruff said.
In September 2021 SAB said, in the context of load-shedding and ongoing power constraints, that it planned to make Castle Lite beer using renewable energy.
[Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/cows-cattle-farm-agriculture-4383468/]