AB InBev beers, including Budweiser, the world’s most valuable beer brand, will soon be brewed with renewable electricity throughout Europe as AB InBev inks a deal with global renewable energy developer, BayWa r.e., to purchase 100% renewable electricity for its European brewing operations.
The 10-year Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) will see power supplied from two solar farms with a combined power output of almost 200 megawatts of which AB InBev will be supplied with over 130 megawatts.
This makes it the largest Pan-European corporate solar power deal in history, covering AB InBev’s 14 breweries in Western Europe and over 50 brands brewed and sold across 12 countries, including global brand Budweiser.
BayWa r.e. will fund and develop two new solar sites in Spain, one of which will be called the Budweiser Solar Farm, which will provide 250 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity per year for AB InBev’s breweries. Over the duration of the PPA, this is enough to power the equivalent of almost 670,000 European homes, or 100,000 stadium football matches.
AB InBev’s European brewing operations produce over 55 million kegs of beer each year and around five million bottles of Budweiser each week. Budweiser is now AB InBev’s biggest brand in Europe, following its launch in France and the Netherlands last year.
The new solar capacity is expected to be added and connected by BayWa r.e. by March 1st 2022. Before these solar sites are up and running, BayWa r.e. will provide AB InBev with 75 gigawatt hours of Guarantees of Origin from its wind farm “La Muela” in Zaragoza, Spain – the equivalent power to produce enough beer for 18 Oktoberfests.
Once all Budweiser in Western Europe is brewed renewably, the brand will feature a new symbol on pack to encourage consumers to choose a beer brewed with 100% renewable electricity.
The symbol, which is rolling out across Budweiser in the UK and the US, following solar and wind power deals in those markets, is available for other businesses to use, in a move that the brewer hopes will help to shift consumer choice.
