Budweiser Brewing Group has announced its partnership with renewable energy solutions provider Protium to develop a green hydrogen energy production facility at its brewery in Samlesbury in Lancashire, United Kingdom.
According to Protium, the project is aligned with the region’s net zero ambitions, with both South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council aiming for their operations to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The Samlesbury Net Zero project, along with other initiatives, aims to meet the thermal demand, heating and transport needs of the brewery through green hydrogen energy, thereby reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality and reducing vehicle noise.
Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, a process that involves using renewable electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The production of green hydrogen generates no carbon emissions.
The project is expected to save up to 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is equivalent to taking 5,800 cars off the road, offsetting the emissions of 11,156 London to New York return flights, or planting 440,000 trees.
The hydrogen production facility will be constructed adjacent to the brewery. It is expected to cover an area equivalent to one and a half full-size soccer pitches. Protium will bear the build and operational costs of the project, while the brewery will sign a long-term green hydrogen energy services contract with Protium.
As part of the project, Budweiser plans to switch to hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, which have the potential to improve local air quality and reduce vehicle noise.
The hydrogen produced at the facility will be directly supplied to hydrogen-ready boilers to meet the brewery’s thermal and heating requirements. Additionally, the facility will supply a hydrogen refuelling station for fuel cell electric vehicles, which only emit water vapor and filter particulate matter out of the air while moving. The heat generated from the facility will also be recovered and used in the brewery’s bottling process.
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The project, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2025, is part of the U.K. Government’s net zero ambitions and supports the green hydrogen target of 5 GW by 2030.
“Samlesbury Net Zero is an investment in our environment, community, economy and our future,” said Chris Jackson, CEO of Protium. “Working with the local community will be at the heart of this project. We want to use the local supply chain where possible and engage with the education and business communities to provide upskilling opportunities for the region in green hydrogen energy production.”
This project is Protium’s third hydrogen production facility in the U.K. and second with Budweiser Brewing Group.
Budweiser parent company Anheuser Busch InBev, or AB InDev, says it has achieved a 39 percent reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions since 2017, according to its ESG report last year.
