OB Beer to Produce Beer Using Self-Generated Solar Energy

Groundbreaking of Solar Power Facility at Icheon Plant on the 4th
Expected to Reduce Over 5600 Tons of Carbon Annually

Obibev Vice President Gu Ja-beom (from the left), Obibev Vice President Natalie Borges, Kepco Energy Solutions CEO Bae Seong-hwan, Obibev CEO Bae Ha-jun, Ionus CEO Heo Eun, and Obibev Vice President Peter Sauer are posing for a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] OB Beer produces beer using solar energy.

OB Beer announced on the 5th that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘RE100 (a campaign to replace 100% of the electricity used by companies with renewable energy) self-consumption solar power generation joint project’ at its production plant located in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, with representatives from Kepco Energy Solutions and Ion Earth in attendance, and officially began the installation project of solar power generation facilities.

This project is the first case in Korea where self-consumption power generation facilities are directly built and the self-generated renewable energy is directly used.

In November last year, OB Beer signed a business agreement on the ‘RE100 self-consumption solar power generation joint project’ with Kepco Energy Solutions and Ion Earth, and will install solar power generation facilities producing about 12 GWh of solar power annually on the sites of OB Beer’s three production plants located in Gwangju, Cheongju, and Icheon. All the electricity generated by solar power will be used to produce beer.

Starting with the Icheon plant, OB Beer plans to sequentially install solar power generation facilities at the production plants in Gwangju and Cheongju, and produce beer using solar power generation facilities at all three plants by the first half of next year.

By replacing electricity with solar energy, OB Beer can directly reduce about 5,621 tons of carbon (CO2) emissions annually. This effect is equivalent to planting 1.12 million pine trees. Over the 30-year lifespan of the power generation facilities, it is expected to reduce more than 160,000 tons of carbon dioxide in total.

Baek Ha-jun, CEO of OB Beer, said, “We have taken the first step to replace 100% of the electricity used with renewable energy,” and added, “As an ESG leading company, we will actively implement RE100 to respond to the climate crisis and actively participate in carbon neutrality policies.”

Along with installing self-consumption solar power, OB Beer plans to steadily expand the use of renewable energy through power purchase agreements (PPA) and green tariffs, aiming to cover 100% of its electricity consumption with renewable energy by 2025.

According to the agreement, OB Beer will provide sites for installing solar power generation facilities at the Gwangju, Cheongju, and Icheon plants and use the self-produced electricity for beer production. Kepco Energy Solutions, a specialized energy efficiency organization, will be responsible for investment, design, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the solar power generation facilities. Ion Earth will operate as the rental operator of the solar power generation facilities, handling operation and maintenance, securing carbon emission rights, and conducting performance evaluation and verification related to operation.

OB Beer’s global headquarters, AB InBev, is a member of ‘RE100,’ a voluntary initiative of companies aiming to source 100% of their electricity from renewable energy. RE100 member companies are required to source all electricity from renewable energy by 2050. AB InBev has announced plans to achieve 100% renewable energy use worldwide by 2025, well ahead of this deadline, and is actively practicing eco-friendly management.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.