Diageo commits GBP 180m for renewables, water recovery at African breweries

Multinational spirits producer Diageo plc (LNO:DGE) announced on Monday a commitment to invest GBP 180 million (USD 218.7m/EUR 196m) in renewable energy and water recovery infrastructure at its breweries in Africa.

An upfront capital investment programme of GBP 50 million will bring solar, water treatment and biomass projects. This will later be followed by further long-term commitments for maintenance and operations. The total commitment will be distributed across 11 sites in seven countries -- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, the Seychelles, Nigeria and Ghana.

Solar arrays are planned for installation "at a dozen breweries" in six countries, starting with Kenya and Ghana. The arrays are expected to generate up to 20% of the power needed by each brewery.

Three breweries in Kenya and Ghana will switch fully to renewable energy. These will get new biomass boilers using wood chips, bamboo and rice husks as fuel.

Also, Diageo plans to invest in new water recovery, purification and reuse facilities at five sites on the African continent.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.21/ EUR 1.09)

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