Renewables

ForeFront Power installs 2.4 MW in Solar at Anheiser-Busch Brewers Collective sites

May 25, 2022

ForeFront Power previously has installed solar at numerous breweries for Anheiser-Busch in New York, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Oregon. The clean energy alternative helps the brewing company avoid more than two million pounds CO2

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor

American beer giant Anheuser-Busch is having solar energy systems installed at eight of its breweries in the craft business unit.

Project developer ForeFront Power will handle duties on delivering the solar energy for the Brewers Collective sites. ForeFront Power previously has installed solar at numerous breweries for Anheiser-Busch in New York, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Oregon.

Altogether, those solar energy systems total 2.4 MW in direct current capacity. The clean energy alternative will help the brewing company avoid more than two million pounds of carbondioxide annually.

“Many craft breweries are more than production facilities; they are now major tourist destinations and community hubs,” said Michael Smith, CEO of ForeFront Power. “On-site solar generation can not only substantially reduce utility costs, but also serve as a tangible demonstration of a brewery’s environmental stewardship and commitment to taking climate action.”

ForeFront installed a 377-kW rooftop solar array at Goose Island’s Barrel House in Chicago. At Long Island’s Blue Point Brewing Co., ForeFront installed a 217-kW rooftop solar at the Patchogue, New York, site.

Anheiser-Busch has taken numerous steps to decarbonize its operations in the U.S., including energy efficiency upgrades. For example, it has tried a new solution with battery-less steam trap monitoring at its Cartersville, Georgia, brewery.

Eventually, the battery-less solution was deployed on 25 percent of of its steam trap. The result was a 1.2-percent cut in energy use, resulting in a carbon reduction of close to 7,600 metric tons per year.

About the Author

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.