Breweries powered by wind!

Reduction of CO2 is currently one of the key climate issues across the globe. The goal of the European Union for 2030 is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 40%. Achieving such a result is possible thanks to increasing the share of renewable energy in production of electricity and heat, among other things. This goal is in line with the strategy of the leader of the beer market in Poland – Kompania Piwowarska. The company goes a step further and starting from 2021, its breweries will be powered by 100% renewable electricity generated by winds farms.

In 2019, Kompania Piwowarska signed the first Power Purchase Agreement for electricity from an expanding wind farm in Poland, without the use of any state subsidies. The agreement concluded between the energy provider innogy and Kompania Piwowarska is a milestone on the Polish market – for the first time ever, production in a brewery will be powered by energy from a wind farm on such a large scale. It means that by the end of 2020 the company will reach 40% share of renewable energy in the total amount of electricity used by its three breweries (Tyskie Browary Książęce in Tychy, the Dojlidy Brewery in Białystok and Lech Browary Wielkopolski in Poznań), and by the end of 2021 they will use 100% green energy. That way the leader of the beer industry in Poland will reduce its CO2 emissions by 66% compared to 2019, while simultaneously contributing to the execution of the environmental vision of its mother company, Japan’s Asahi Group.

- We keep looking for solutions aimed at reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, because our production activity is inseparably connected to carbon footprint, meaning CO2 emissions from our boiler rooms – we pay special attention to that. Since 2002 in Tychy and 2006 in Poznań, our boiler rooms have been using natural gas, and we continue to optimize them, while in Tychy we additionally produce biogas. The energy generated by burning biogas in Tychy constitutes 12.5% of the whole electricity produced. Our breweries are also equipped with a computer system monitoring consumption of utilities, which allows us to observe the usage of heating and electricity in any given time slots. We have replaced all forklifts with those powered by LPG – said Klaudyna Gruszecka, Environmental Protection and Safety Systatems Manager at Kompania Piwowarska.

The whole world is challenged to stop climate change through giving up energy produced by burning fossil fuels. For that reason, it is essential to support companies providing renewable energy. Thanks to the cooperation with Kompania Piwowarska, innogy is able to invest in a new onshore construction project – expansion of the wind farm in Nowy Staw, which will help execute the goals set by the UN under Agenda 2030 and contribute to increasing innogy’s production capacity, and thus change the energy mix in Poland.

The fight against the causes and consequences of climate change and expansion of industrial production do not have to be exclusive. Kompania Piwowarska’s example shows that with the use of well though out actions, it is possible to increase companies’ efficiency in reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases. What’s essential to achieve that is cooperation of numerous entities at every stage of energy production, distribution and consumption.

Over the last few years, both environmental development and protection have been popular business trends, which ultimately should become an inseparable part of the change process at every company. Sustainable development has been the basis of Kompania Piwowarska’s business strategy for years. It encompasses initiatives such as expansion of the renewable energy network in Poland. With its consistent activities aimed at minimizing the ecological footprint, the leader of the beer industry in Poland helps protect the environment.