Scotch Whisky Industry Collaborates on Renewable Energy

[William]

Construction will begin today on a £60.5 million biomass/feeds combined heat and power plant in Rothes in Speyside, Scotland. It will use Scotch Whisky distillery by-products to generate electricity, produce animal feed and drastically cut carbon emissions.

Helius CoRDe Ltd - a consortium comprising Scotch Whisky producers (BenRiach, Chivas Brothers, Diageo, Edrington, Glen Grant, Inver House and John Dewar & Sons Ltd) The Combination of Rothes Distillers, energy firm Helius Energy Plc and project equity company Rabo Project Equity BV - is behind the plant.

Read the full story here:
www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/scotchwhiskyrenewableenergy.htm

[Blackadder]

I read that farmers in Speyside are worried about the implications a new bioenergy plant will have on the availability of one of the main winter cattle feeds they use.

Farmers in Speyside and across Scotland have traditionally used whisky distillery by-products made from the barley as a major constituent of the diets of livestock.

Many farmers now fear the availability of the distillery by-products is going to decrease substantially when the new bioenergy plant comes online.

I wonder if the government/council have even considered the effect this new plant will have on the farming industry

[Brummie]