Brunswick beer is now being made more sustainable with the introduction of a roof full of solar panels at Temple Brewing Co.
Saving more than 15 per cent of the brewery’s energy use, the solar initiative is already proving its cost-effectiveness and benefiting the environment.
“Having solar panels on the roof has been a huge win for us at Temple,” said managing director Nicholas Pang.
“One of the largest costs of a brewery is the cost of electricity and the solar panels are delivering between 15-30 per cent savings to us,” Pang continued.
“The ability to brew sustainably is very much a part of our ethos and we’re so excited that this will now become the norm for us as we continue grow and produce larger quantities of good beer!”
Due to the quantity of craft beers produced on site, especially during the warmer months, the brewery has a high power demand. Temple’s objective was to generate as much solar energy as possible. Energy Reductions designed and installed a 30kWp system that was able to offset some 30 per cent of the brewery’s energy requirements.
According to forecasts the 30kWp system installed at Temple Brewing Co. will pay for itself in less than six years, reducing the microbrewery’s carbon footprint and operating costs. Return on investment after one year is estimated to be 16 per cent based on current electricity tariff rates.
Temple Brewing Co.’s commitment to sustainability is an extension of its dedication to finding the best ingredients and ways of doing things, as well as its commitment to community. To conserve water the microbrewery captures steam from the brewing process and directs it back into water tanks for brewing. The effort to repurpose by-products also sees the Temple team giving its spent grain to local farmers who then use it as stock feed.
With the solar panels and sustainability efforts already exhibiting positive results, Pang hopes other businesses recognise the benefits and follow suit.
“Our system was installed with very little interruption to our day-to-day operations,” Pang said.