Solar power is a no-brainer for a place with so many sunny days. Just after lockdown in 2020 we installed a 27kW solar system on our roof. This has reduced our electricity use by about 50% when it’s cranking. The beauty is, it produces more power when it’s needed – during summer when we need to cool our tanks and coolroom the most. We plan to install an even bigger solar system in our new brewery so that we can save money and reduce our carbon emissions. We also chose Enova as our energy supplier because it’s a community-owned business that strongly supports renewable energy with goals to use novel approaches like sharing renewables between producers and consumers to increase penetration.
Our hot liquor (hot water) tank in the brewery was custom designed with elements that enable us to heath water with our excess solar power. This reduces the amount of gas we need to use to heat water, and acts as a form of battery.
