Anheuser-Busch said it will achieve its 100% renewable purchased electricity goal when a 2,000-acre, 222MWac solar energy facility is completed by 2021.
Once complete, A-B’s entire portfolio of domestic beer brands – including Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA, Busch and more – will be brewed with 100% renewable electricity from solar and wind power.
Through a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between Anheuser-Busch and Recurrent Energy, a leading utility-scale solar developer in the U.S. and a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, A-B will purchase the renewable electricity credits from the energy delivered to the grid by a new solar energy facility being built in Pecos County, Texas.
To commemorate this achievement, Anheuser-Busch President and CEO Michel Doukeris will be signing the world’s longest contract, for five billion years, with the sun. Using the heat of the sun itself, he will burn his signature into the agreement at Anheuser-Busch’s Brewery in Fairfield, Calif.,
“As the country’s leading brewer, we’re committed to driving meaningful change as we announce the largest solar partnership in the world for the beverage industry,” said Doukeris. “From our 18,000 colleagues to our wholesaler partners, our teams across the country will continue to find innovative ways to create a world that is cleaner and more sustainable for future generations.”
The new solar energy facility will be fully operational by 2021, and it will be the size of 1,500 football fields – with enough solar panels to stretch from New York City to the Southern tip of Florida. The Pecos County, TX facility is expected to generate 650 GWhrs of energy annually – providing enough electricity to brew 20 billion 12 oz. servings of beer a year.
The company’s new solar power commitment, coupled with its partnership with Enel Green Power to use renewable electricity credits delivered from the Budweiser Wind Farm at Thunder Ranch in Billings, Okla., will enable Anheuser-Busch to meet its goal of brewing with 100% renewable electricity by 2021 in the United States – four years earlier than expected.