South Korea: OB Beer becomes Korea’s first liquor company to manufacture beer with solar power

OB Beer has become the first liquor company in Korea to manufacture beer with renewable energy produced by solar power, Maeil Business Newspaper reported on March 17.

OB Beer announced on the 17th that it will expand the use of renewable energy after completing the construction of solar power facilities at three production plants in Icheon, Cheongju, and Gwangju.

OB Beer is taking the lead in eco-friendly management and is actively participating in the 'RE100' initiative, which covers 100% of the electricity used by companies only with renewable energy to respond to climate change.

To this end, in 2023, OB Beer first installed a 3.7 megawatt (MW) solar panel at its Gwangju plant. The solar panels of the newly installed Icheon plant and the Cheongju plant completed in December last year totaled 1.8 megawatts (MW).

The Icheon plant can generate 1.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy per year, replacing about 3.7% of the electricity the Icheon plant consumes annually.

The Cheongju plant can generate 0.6 gigawatts (GWh) of renewable energy per year. This is the amount that can replace about 2.6% of the annual power consumption of the Cheongju plant.

The Gwangju plant generates 3.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy per year, replacing about 11% of its annual power consumption.

Jaeobie Beer can reduce carbon emissions by about 2,800 tons per year by operating all three plants' solar power generation systems.

In order to introduce additional renewable energy, the company plans to convert 100% of the electricity used in future beer production into renewable energy through the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Energy Storage System (ESS), and Virtual Power Plant (VPP).

CEO Bae Ha-joon said, "The completion of the construction of solar power facilities in all three production plants is an important indicator that OB Beer's eco-friendly management strategy is not just a slogan, but leads to practical action," adding, "We will work harder to introduce sustainable energy throughout the beer production process."