Nigerian Breweries completes 650kW solar plant, eyes hydropower
Nigerian Breweries Plc has announced the completion of the installation of a 650kW solar power plant in its Ibadan Brewery.
The company is also looking to generate energy from hydroelectric power sources and biomass utilisation in its breweries, according to its 2020 annual report and accounts obtained by Markets Reporters.
“We have adopted the global HEINEKEN ‘Drop the C’ sustainability initiative to generate 70 percent of our energy requirement in the Breweries from renewable energy sources by 2030,” it said.
The brewing company said it had expanded the use of biogas generated from the anaerobic reactors of its wastewater treatment plants.
It said, “In our Aba Brewery, we generate 6.38MJ/hl produced from biogas, representing 10 percent of the brewery’s thermal energy requirement.
“We have also completed the installation of a 650kw Solar Power plant in our Ibadan Brewery via a solar power purchase agreement with CrossBoundary Energy. We are now exploring options of generating energy from hydroelectric power sources and biomass utilisation for combined heat & power generation in our breweries.”
This, according to the company, is part of its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
It said, “Overall, these energy reduction strategies have brought about reduction in 26 percent of combined energy use since 2008. We concluded the year at 94 percent general waste recycling, putting us on track to attain our target of 98 percent by 2021.
“Through our collaboration with the Food Beverage and Recycling Alliance, over 5.7 million kg of plastic waste were recovered in 2020.”
Nigerian Breweries added that it supported multiple plastic recycling awareness project and the provision of collection bins in 13 schools across Lagos State.
It said the production of over 20,000 pieces of recycled face shields was supported and distributed to essential workers as part of the FBRA’s COVID response.
The company said, “Local sourcing is an important part of our sustainability agenda. We made progress in our drive to achieve 60 percent sourcing of our raw materials locally.
“In 2020, we locally sourced 51 percent of our agricultural raw materials such as sorghum and sorghum maltose syrup. We also sourced 98 percent of our packaging materials from local sources.”
