New Belgium Brewing first embarked on solar in 2010 with a 200kW rooftop array on top of its Fort Collins brewery and later added a 96kW solar array in 2015. In 2014, they opened their LEED-certified brewery in Asheville. Solar panels were installed atop the liquid center when the brewery was constructed, with plans to later add an additional array atop the brewhouse and production facility.
New Belgium completed yet another large solar installation project this week, this one at its Asheville, N.C., brewery. The new 446 kW Solar PV system, installed by Renu Energy Solutions, includes 1,063 modules spanning the facility’s 114,000 square-foot roof, producing an estimated 620,000 kWh of electricity annually.
The solar installation builds on other major investments at New Belgium’s Asheville brewery in the past two years – including a new canning line added in 2020, and ten additional tanks to expand barrelage capacity installed just this spring – which have enabled the creation of 50 new jobs at New Belgium Asheville in the past two years alone.
“As we celebrate 10 years since announcing our move to Asheville with a brewery designed for rooftop solar, we’re thrilled to make good on our commitment to add more renewable energy to the grid,” said Jay Richardson, General Manager of New Belgium Brewing Asheville. “We’re inspired by so many North Carolina businesses that have and will continue to make climate investments in our community, and we hope our own contributions to climate action and resilience will help ensure Asheville remains a great place to live, work, visit, and drink world-class, locally brewed beer for decades to come.”
In addition, New Belgium has donated more than $1.4 million to 200 nonprofits across North Carolina since 2005 through the company’s longstanding commitment to give away $1 per barrel of beer sold.
The new solar installation in Asheville more than doubles the solar power that New Belgium previously provided across both breweries, building on the company’s first rooftop solar initiative at its original Fort Collins brewery back in 2010. Over 25 years, the renewable energy now being produced in Asheville will offset roughly 11,100 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 2,200 passenger cars annually – or the CO2 emissions produced by around 1.1 million gallons of gasoline – according to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator.
“The climate crisis is already harming our coworkers, our communities, and our customers here in Asheville and across the country – not to mention threatening the future of beer itself,” said Katie Wallace, Director of Environmental and Social Impact at New Belgium Brewing. “Renewable energy is an economic driver for businesses like New Belgium and our outstanding local partners at Renu, and for residents in need of good-paying jobs and clean air and water.”
New Belgium’s flagship Fat Tire became America’s first certified carbon neutral beer in 2020, and the company simultaneously committed to make the entire business carbon neutral by 2030. The company has published the entirety of its carbon neutral blueprint for businesses on drinksustainably.com, a website dedicated to helping others join New Belgium on the road to carbon neutrality.
“We are honored to serve as New Belgium Brewing’s installation partner for their spectacular solar project in Asheville, NC,” said Jay Radcliffe, CEO of Renu Energy Solutions. “With our shared commitment to the Asheville community, our partnership with New Belgium showcases building renewable energy directly within a community, placing clean energy production closest to where energy is consumed.”
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