We’re very excited to announce that Jester King Brewery is now solar powered! Last month, we activated our new, 78 kilowatt solar power system, which is one of the larger systems in central Texas! We have three arrays of panels that cover most of our ~11,000 square foot roof. The arrays are oriented in different directions to catch solar energy throughout the whole day. This means that on a sunny day, the brewery can run 100% off of solar power, as well as send excess power back to the grid. Finally, the panels not only create energy, they also absorb thermal heat. This means that there’s less thermal transfer into our barrel room, which makes it less energy intensive to cool to fermentation temperature.
Solar energy at Jester King is the most recent step in making the brewery more sustainable. But we still have a long way to go! For instance, we still need to develop the ability to catch our own rainwater, treat our wastewater for irrigation, and power our boiler off of biofuels and/or brewery waste. In the years ahead, we will continue to make improvements that will ultimately make us a truly sustainable brewery.
We’d like to thank the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its grant assistance in helping us fund the project, as well as Circular Energy for their help and guidance installing the system.
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