Molson Coors set for 100% renewable electricity switch in the UK

Molson Coors Beverage Company, which produces drinks for brands including Carling and Doom Bar in the UK, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) that will enable it to transition to 100% renewable electricity in the UK.


Molson Coors set for 100% renewable electricity switch in the UK

Pictured: Staff at Molson Coors' Burton brewery. Image:Molson Coors via CityPress 

The PPA has been signed by the brewing giant and RWE and will see Molson Coors source electricity from the Tween Bank wind farm in Yorkshire. The 22-turbine wind farm is already in operation and has a gross electrical output of 44MW.

Under the 10-year PPA, RWE will deliver around 75 GWh of green electricity to Molson Coors every year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of all of its UK operations. The brand operates beer breweries in Burton, Tadcaster and Sharps in Cornwall, plus a cider facility in Suffolk for its Aspall Cyder brand. It also has a national distribution centre and the national call centre in Cardiff and a network of offices across the UK.

Molson Coors said in a statement that the move will put it on track to meet its target to reduce absolute emissions from operations by 50% – originally deadlined for 2025 – ahead of schedule in the UK. The target for operational emissions is global and Molson Coors is hoping to have it approved in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C trajectory by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in the coming months.

“We are delighted to enter into long-term partnerships with pioneers like Molson Coors, as this demonstrates that climate protection is possible under market conditions,” RWE’s chief commercial officer for renewables, Tom Glover, said.

“RWE is committed to a carbon-neutral future and we´re constantly expanding our renewables portfolio to achieve this.”

RWE notably closed its last UK coal plant, Aberthaw B, in March 2020, stating that “market conditions made the decision necessary”. The UK Government has mandated that all coal power plants close by 2024, forward from an original phase-out date of 2025.

In 2019, RWE committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2040, in light of changing climate legislation in the EU and UK. It is planning to decommission further coal and gas projects while investing in more wind, solar and energy storage to meet the 2040 goal.

Sarah George

Comments (1)

  1. Lawrence Rose says:

    Possibility 1

    Tween Bank has a dedicated supply to the brewers and the wind always blows at Tween Bank.

    i.e. RWE "deliver around 75GWh of green electricity to Molson Coors every year" as it say in the article.

    Possibility 2

    Molson Coors will still get the same electricity as the rest of us. In that way they will still get electricity when it isn’t windy.

    i.e. RWE deliver around 75GWh of the same electricity that all other grid-connected consumers get, but RWE pay for the ROCs to the appropriate value.

    The article suggests that Possibility 1 is what’s happening, but I suspect that it’s actually Possibility 2.

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