Budweiser brewer AB InBev has signed a power purchase agreement with BayWa Re that will cover 100% of its electricity demands in Europe.
The beer giant will take 130MW of power from two solar farms in a 10-year virtual off-take deal, which the German developer claims is the largest European solar deal in history.
One of the solar farms in Spain will be called the Budweiser solar project.
The capacity will be added and connected by 1 March 2022. Before this, BayWa Re will provide AB InBev with 75 gigawatt hours of Guarantees of Origin from its La Muela wind farm in Zaragoza, Spain.
Electricity will cover AB InBev’s 14 breweries in western Europe, which make over 50 brands of beer. AB InBev’s European brewing operations produce over 55 million kegs of beer each year and around five million bottles of Budweiser each week.
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.
AB InBev zone president for Europe Jason Warner said: “As a brewer, we rely on natural ingredients – water, hops, barley and yeast – to make our beers, so we know that sustainability is not just part of our business, it is our business.
“This is why we are hugely excited today to announce this partnership with BayWa Re to build the Budweiser Solar Farm, add new European solar capacity and brew our beers across Western Europe with renewable electricity.
“As we welcome the new European Green Deal, we now ask our consumers, customers, colleagues, business partners and fellow companies to join us in shifting towards renewable power – we are making our 100% renewable electricity symbol available for any brands that are produced with renewables.”
BayWa Re boss Matthias Taft added: “Consumers increasingly want to make ‘green’ choices with the products they buy. Leading brands, like Budweiser, are showing the way and we are proud to be supporting AB InBev in their own renewable energy transition.”