By Mark Sneddon, Delivery Director at Aurora Utilities Limited
Scotland’s whisky industry remains steeped in rich history and tradition going back over 200 years, but change is on the horizon. Today’s top distillers are embracing sustainability within their operations to protect the future of the hugely popular spirit.
According to recent reports, Scotland’s whisky industry is worth £6.2billion to the Scottish economy a year, accounting for more than 25% of the UK’s total food and drink exports. However this comes at a cost.
Production at this scale requires intensive energy sources; it is thought that Scotland’s 148 distilleries currently consume around 3.7 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy every year.
The good news is that the industry has made some progress in reducing its carbon footprint; in fact, by 2018 over 20% of the industry’s energy use came from non-fossil fuels, compared to under 3% in 2008. The whisky industry itself however strives to do better.
Golden opportunity
The Scottish Government aims to reach net zero by at least 2045, but the whisky industry has gone a step further by pledging to get there five years earlier.
In January 2021, the Scotch Whisky Industry Association published plans that demonstrated a clear commitment to sustainability; Scottish distilleries are to decarbonise their operations by 2040, agreeing to measure and report on their annual performance to accelerate progress.
The Scottish Government is also partly driving this sustainability push. In 2024, a total of £7.2million was shared across a number of food and drink businesses, with another £11.8million injected through private investment.
This includes a £3.1million investment managed by The Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) awarded to Chivas Brothers, a renowned Scottish distillery founded in 1786 and owned by Pernod Ricard. This capital will support projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions created during energy-intensive manufacturing processes.
Chivas Brothers has pledged to become carbon neutral in the distilling process by the end of 2026. Its owner, Pernod Ricard, has also announced an imminent target of reducing emissions by 54% by 2030, and then by 90% by 2050 across the group.
A key part of the Pernod Ricard sustainability strategy when it comes to making its distilleries more environmentally friendly is focused on switching from gas to electricity power, as well as the adoption of new technologies that drive energy efficiency.
Harnessing the power of electricity directly to improve a distillery’s sustainability credentials is a sound option for carbon-conscious whisky distilleries. In addition to electrifying their facilities, they can generate energy on-site to meet demand, or export surplus electricity to the grid, then reimport it when it is required.
The electrification of distilleries has already been proven to be a viable option. Diageo for example has already opened its first carbon neutral distillery in Kentucky in the U.S., and its 72,000 square-foot facility features boilers that are powered by 100% renewable electricity throughout the cooking, distillation, and dry house processes.
At this facility, renewables power the electrode boilers, on-site electric vehicles, and internal and external lighting and equipment, saving more than 117,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, and making the facility one of the largest of its kind in North America. This approach is not only good for the planet, it is economical; it now provides the capacity to produce up to 10 million proof gallons of whisky per year.
A toast to flexibility
In Scotland, electrifying distilleries can come with some unique challenges. The facilities tend to be located in remote areas in the Scottish countryside or on rugged islands off the coast where there are existing grid connection issues. Furthermore, turning grain into alcohol takes extremely large heat loads. This means a strategic and balanced approach to connections is critical to the success of their plans.
Aurora for example is supporting whisky distilleries who are now transitioning away from gas heated sills to adopt electrically heated sills instead. This means the electrical demand at their facilities will significantly increase.
Our specialists are therefore helping these distilleries by investigating the grid to assess the feasibility of this important transition, which includes identifying suitable connection dates and timescales leveraging our expertise and industry contacts. This can include forming ramping agreements with the local DNO (Distribution Network Operator) to take on the power over a period of time, allowing reinforcements to be made and increase resilience across the network.
As expected, the common grid constraints that we see everywhere in the UK are even more prevalent in remote areas of the country. This is due to grid reinforcements being less in in-demand than in suburban areas of the country. The additional loads therefore required to achieve these upgraded electrical connections need careful consideration, as well as a strategic approach to get them connected with the right amount of power. If approached in the right way, it will assist a seamless transition and keep the bottles flowing around the world.
A report published in 2021 by Heriot-Watt University, and funded by the UK Government’s Greener Distilleries Funding Scheme, also shed some light on how distilleries might move the dial towards net zero sooner rather than later, which takes these challenges into account.
The analysis concluded that distilleries could look to secure clean power from a variety of sources to achieve carbon-neutral status, opposed to relying on one. For example, a distillery can incorporate on-site wind generation, install exterior solar panels, and ground source heat pumps, to power their operations in a sustainable way.
At Aurora, we are supporting Scottish distilleries in the upgrade of their electricity grid connections at their facilities, allowing them to make the switch from gas to electricity. This also allows them to achieve a strategic balance, ensuring that they can connect their renewable energy sources efficiently. Ultimately, it is a flexible approach that helps make the switch from fossil fuels to green electricity, ensuring sustainability for the long-term.
In addition, distilleries should consider the impact of the transportation of their final product. In the UK, road transport is responsible for around a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, with heavy goods vehicles contributing to 17% of emissions and light vans 16%. Distillery operators can upgrade their transport fleets so that they run on 100% clean energy instead of fossil fuels; this will only be possible if adequate electric vehicle charging points are installed at the facility, as well as at strategic locations on national roads and motorways to aid efficient deliveries.
Aurora can also assist with the provision of EHGV charging facilities at each facility and throughout the country to ensure that whisky is transported with a reduced carbon emissions footprint.
Over a barrel
You might say today’s whisky distillers are over a barrel; the 2040 net zero target is fast approaching and so a sustainability strategy is essential, not just a nice to have. If their journey to net zero is planned effectively, it will not only reduce their environmental impact, it will allow them to innovate, save costs and make efficiencies across their whole operations. Scotland’s ‘liquid gold’ has been celebrated around the world for decades, now the region’s distilling masters have an opportunity to lead the way in sustainable distilling that could provide a global blueprint.
