Danish brewer Carlsberg has announced plans to install a pilot solar collector field at Olympic Brewery’s Sindos site in Greece.
The brewer claims that the panels are the world's most efficient as it looks to decarbonise its breweries.
Together Towards ZERO
Operating on a trial basis for the time being, the pilot could help Carlsberg achieve its 2030 goal of zero carbon emissions from breweries, as part of its Together Towards ZERO programme.
Technology partner Absolicon has developed the world’s most optically-efficient concentrating solar thermal collector for heat and steam.
The trough design is programmed to follow the sun, and a curved silver-coated mirror focuses the sun’s rays towards a solar collector tube.
Pressurised hot water is circulated through the tube, generating steam for use in the brewery, creating an entirely renewable resource to replace natural gas.
During the one-year pilot, to be installed in early 2022, Carlsberg will work with Absolicon to understand the potential of the technology for its breweries around the world.
Surinder Singh, senior director of new technologies at Carlsberg Group, said, "We’re excited by the potential of this technology to support the decarbonisation of our breweries globally by 2030."
"Collaborating across our business and with partners like Absolicon is vital to identifying and scaling the solutions to create renewable heat energy, and we’re pleased to be going together towards zero," Singh added.
Thermal Energy
At Carlsberg, breweries utilise two types of energy – electricity and thermal, with the latter fulfilling almost three-quarters of its total energy requirements.
Across the group, two-thirds of electricity is already sourced from renewables, but the technology is not yet available at scale for thermal energy.
The pilot is expected to address this issue and allow the use of renewable thermal energy from the sun to brew beer.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more Drinks news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
