Energy Efficiency
Announcements prior to September 2017, including this announcement, occurred under previous ownership.
21 May 2014
Half of this will come from GIB, with matched funding from the private sector.
Today, GIB is announcing that Aberfeldy distillery in Perthshire will be taking advantage of the new funding available.
This follows GIB's announcement last year of an investment at the Tomatin distillery, near Inverness. Tomatin is on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by c. 80%.
The projects will finance the installation of biomass boilers, to replace the existing, inefficient, heavy fuel oil boilers. This will reduce the distilleries' energy costs and their greenhouse gas emissions, without requiring any up-front capital investment. The boilers will be used to produce steam, necessary for several parts of the whisky production process.
The Aberfeldy project will use the same core biomass boiler technology and systems as at Tomatin. Engineering and installation works will commence immediately.
Bacardi, who own the distillery, have estimated that the project could reduce the distillery's carbon footprint by up to 90%, by replacing 100% of the heat currently generated from fuel oil.
Aberfeldy Distillery was founded by John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. in 1896 and opened in 1898. The distillery is located on the outskirts of Aberfeldy, on the southern bank of the Upper Tay. Aberfeldy is the largest malt whisky component of Dewar's Blended Scotch Whisky. It relies on the fresh water stream Pitilie Burn, which runs alongside the distillery and is the only distillery in Scotland to use these waters.
Rob Cormie
Group Operations Director
The investment is being made by the Equitix-managed fund, Energy Saving Investments (ESI), in which GIB is the cornerstone investor, alongside the Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF). The investment is in partnership with Balcas Limited (Balcas), a British SME and leading UK manufacturer of wood pellet biomass.
The new biomass boilers will be fuelled by sustainably sourced wood pellet fuel. The pellets are manufactured by Balcas using renewable energy and raw materials sourced from local, sustainably managed forests at their plant at Invergordon.
Vince Cable
Business Secretary
Ernest Kidney
Managing Director of Balcas
Stuart Lowthian
Global Technical Director, of Bacardi
Geoff Jackson
Chief Executive Officer, Equitix
Media enquiries
About ESI
The ESI fund forms part of GIB's allocation of investment into Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency (NDEE), one of its priority sectors. GIB awarded the competitive mandate to Equitix to invest £50 million, matched by private investors, to drive investment in small-scale low carbon infrastructure.
About Equitix
Equitix is a company established to deliver and manage infrastructure projects from bidding and closing through to construction and service provision. Its reputation is built upon strong relationships with its clients and partners, as well as a committed approach to every project in which they are involved and investment they make.
About Balcas
Balcas is the largest manufacturer of wood pellet fuel in the British Isles. It will supply the Tomatin distillery from its plant at Invergordon, Ross-shire. At Invergordon biomass is combusted in a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, and the emerging steam is condensed to drive an electrical generator. The residual heat is used to reduce the moisture content of locally sourced woodfibre that is processed into high-energy fuel pellets. All of the electrical and thermal energy used in the process are therefore from renewable sources. Balcas' wood pellets that are marketed under the company's "brites" brand, providing energy to displace 100 million litres of oil per year, reducing carbon emissions by 300,000 tonnes.