The Arbikie Highland Estate Distillery in Scotland is to run on renewable energy thanks to funding from the UK Government’s Green Distilleries Competition.
Using the £3m (€3.6m) prize, UK renewables company Locogen, in partnership with hydrogen technologies specialist Logan Energy, will now work with Arbikie to install an onsite wind turbine and electrolyser that will generate green hydrogen.
This will replace the polluting oil currently used by the distillery to raise steam for the distillation process.
The Arbikie project will comprise a single 1MW turbine on Arbikie’s farmland, which will export the electricity generated to a green hydrogen hub via a dedicated private wire.
The green hydrogen hub will be based at Arbikie Distillery and comprise an electrolyser, compressor and storage.
Green hydrogen will be created by the electrolyser and a direct pipe will take the stored hydrogen from the storage vessel to the existing plant room.
A burner and boiler compatible with burning hydrogen will then be used to create steam which will deliver the heat for distillation.
The Green Distilleries Competition aims to help distilleries cut CO2 emissions by one million tonnes, contributing to Scotland’s and the UK’s national target to be carbon neutral by 2045 and 2050 respectively.
Each winning distillery will deploy innovative green solutions in order to achieve these goals.
Burning hydrogen does not release any carbon emissions and therefore the Arbikie project represents a clean fuel alternative to current practices.
The project will showcase the technical feasibility of using hydrogen as an alternative fuel in distillation and other process heat applications.
It should also have enormous replicability across industry whilst acting as a catalyst for creating green hydrogen opportunities in the wider Angus area.
Locogen chief executive Andy Lyle said: “This is a fantastic result for Arbikie and presents a great opportunity to demonstrate how distilleries, and the wider process industries, can use new technologies to create cleaner, sustainable businesses.”
Logan Energy chief executive Bill Ireland added: “With the demand to switch to net zero technologies greater than ever, this project is a further example of the innovative ways hydrogen can meet the energy-solution challenges, like commercial heating, faced around the world – starting at home with one of Scotland’s most renowned exports.”
Arbikie Distillery director Iain Stirling said: “We are delighted to have won through to Phase 2 with Locogen and Logan Energy.
“We aim to be one of the world’s most sustainable distilleries so being able to use green hydrogen power will be another significant step in our sustainable journey.”