Whisky Focus - Bowmore The Devil's Casks 2

The British government and the Green Investment Bank plan to invest in a new renewable energy plant in Scotland, which will help power The Macallan whisky distillery in Speyside.

The project will cost a total of £74 million ($124 million). The UK Treasury will raise up to £48 million from a bond issue, while the Green Investment Bank and asset manager John Laing will each invest around £13 million.

The contributions from the bank and John Laing depend on the successful conclusion of the bond process, the Treasury said in a statement.

The Green Investment Bank was created in 2012 by the government to back green energy projects in Britain and to spur private sector investment in the low-carbon energy sector.

The combined heat and power plant in Moray, Scotland, will use biomass to generate around 87 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year of renewable electricity, which is enough to power more than 20,000 homes.

The plant will also produce nearly 77 GWh per year of heat, which will be sold to the nearby Macallan distillery who produces one of the world's largest-selling single malt whiskies and is owned by the Edrington Group. The Macallan were recently granted planning permission by The Moray Council for a new £100m iconic distillery and visitor centre on The Macallan Estate in Speyside. The Macallan will use the 77 GWh of heat in its processes to make Scotch whisky.

The project, which is being developed by Estover Energy, is expected to be operational in 2016. The biomass used in the plant will be by-products from the local forestry industry.

Scotch whisky distillers are increasingly burning their unwanted grain byproducts, wood chips and other types of biomass for a source of energy in remote parts of the Scottish Highlands, where gas links are scarce and fuel oil is pricey.

Whisky is big business for Scotland, and Britain as a whole.

Data from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) showed that exports of whisky last year were around 4.3 billion pounds, representing around 85 percent of Scottish food and drink exports and nearly a quarter of the British total.
 

• UK Shops
   
• USA Shops
   
• European Shops
  

Whisky Focus