Sustainable Energy

World's largest brewer signs 10-year renewable electricity deal

Key Points
  • AB InBev is one of many major firms attempting to power its operations with renewable sources.
  • The brewer will be supplied with power from two solar facilities to be built in Spain. 
Alex Tai | SOPA Images | Getty Images

The world's largest brewer, AB InBev, has signed a deal with renewable energy developer BayWa r.e that will see the drinks giant purchase 100% renewable electricity for its brewing operations in Europe.

Under the 10-year virtual power purchase agreement, announced on Thursday, the brewer will be supplied with power from two solar facilities that have a "combined power output" of nearly 200 megawatts (MW). Breaking the deal down, AB InBev will get more than 130 MW of these sites' output.

The agreement will cover 14 breweries: five in Belgium, four in Germany, two in the Netherlands, two in the Canary Islands, and one in Luxembourg. The U.K. and Russia have previously signed agreements for renewable electricity.

Under the new deal, BayWa r.e. is to both fund and develop the two solar plants in Spain. One of these schemes will be dubbed the "Budweiser Solar Farm," with the new sites set to be up and running by March 2022.

AB InBev said the solar plants would provide its breweries with 250 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity annually. Over the course of the power purchase agreement, this equates to enough electricity to power nearly 670,000 homes in Europe, according to the company.

AB InBev is one of many major firms attempting to power its operations with renewable sources.

Last October, Amazon announced three renewable energy projects, including its first in Scotland. The tech giant said the facilities would provide energy to its Amazon Web Services data centers.

In March 2019, Microsoft signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the energy produced by a 74-megawatt solar power facility in North Carolina.