Whisky Focus - Canadian Whisky Distiller Turns To The Sun For Profit

Canadian whisky distiller turns to sun for profit.

Hiram Walker are to lease distillery roofs for solar project to produce 7.9 MW of electricity, enough for 3,000 homes. They will reinvest money from leasing roof space to cut power use.

Canadian distiller Hiram Walker is turning the roofs at its Ontario whisky-aging warehouse complex into one of the world's biggest solar power installations, the 153 year old company said.

The originator of Canadian Club whisky said the 7.9 megawatt project, to be installed on an area the size of 24 football fields, will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes. It will also offset 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

The company, which is owned by French drinks group Pernod Ricard SA (PERP.PA), said the revenue it makes from leasing the roofs at its Pike Creek facility in Windsor, in southern Ontario, will be spent on buying more efficient boilers that will cut the distillery's energy use by a fifth.

Hiram Walker, which also makes Polar Ice vodka and Malibu rum, will lease the space for 20 years to two Ontario-based solar energy companies, panel installer Solar & Alternative Technology Corp and panel manufacturer Soventix Canada Inc.

The two companies will sell the power into the grid under Ontario's feed-in tariff (FIT) program, an incentive scheme introduced by the province's Liberal government in 2009 to encourage the development of green energy by paying above-market prices to developers of solar, wind and other renewable energy projects.

The FIT program will be short-lived if the opposition Progressive Conservative Party wins the Oct. 6 provincial election. The Conservatives have said they will scrap the program because it is too expensive.
 

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