One of UK's largest onshore wind turbines installed to help directly power Budweiser's Magor brewery in South Wales
One of the UK's largest onshore wind turbines has been installed in South Wales to directly power a nearby Budweiser brewery in Magor, thanks to a partnership between Brewing giant AB InBev and renewable energy developer CleanEarth.
Boasting blades of 68 metres in length, the turbine is believed to be the longest to enter commercial operation on UK soil, the two companies said today. The tips of the blades reportedly reach 150 metres in height, capable of sweeping an area equivalent to two Wembley stadium-sized football pitches.
The newly-installed wind turbine has been built by CleanEarth to supply almost a quarter of the power consumed at Budweiser Brewing Group's Magor brewery, which produces more than one billion pints of beer each year for brands such as Stella Artois, Budweiser, Corona, and Bud Light.
Overall, the 3.5MW turbine is capable of generating nine million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to power around 2,300 average Welsh homes and save 2,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions, according to CleanEarth.
The sheer size of the turbine alongside state-of-the-art engineering design serves to boost its efficiency to make the most of the available wind, although this also presented a major logistical challenge during the installation process, CleanEarth explained.
As a result, it said an initial plan to transport the huge blades to the site by road was eventually dropped in favour of shipping them an extra 500 miles by sea, arriving in to Bristol's Avonmouth Dock, so that only the final 20 miles to the site had to be navigated by road.
The turbine is now located around a mile away from the brewery, which it serves via a direct wire, with Budweiser - part of global brewing giant AB InBev - buying the renewable electricity from CleanEarth through a power purchase agreement (PPA) between the two firms.
It forms part of Budweiser Brewing Group's commitment to brew its portfolio of beers with 100 per cent renewable electricity through a 15-year PPA deal for its Magor site as well as its other major UK brewery at Samlesbury in Lancashire.
Paula Lindenberg, president of Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, said the firm was now close brewing its beers with 100 per cent renewable power "and we're excited about this next step". "Partnerships like this one with CleanEarth help drive positive change - making it easier for people to make sustainable choices at the pub or on their weekly shop," she said.