Green whisky

Helius Energy and the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRD) have announced a £50m joint venture aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the whisky industry on Speyside.

The partnership will create a joint-venture group under the name Helius CoRDe, which aims to save more than 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year by using byproducts from the industry to generate energy.

The company will operate a 7.2MWe GreenSwitch biomass combined heat and power plant fuelled by a combination of distillery co-products and wood chips. It will also run a separate GreenFields plant, which will turn the liquid co-products of whisky production, which include water, pot ale and draff, into concentrated fertilisers and animal feed for use by local farmers.

The joint-venture company builds on a partnership between Grimsby-based biomass-to-power group Helius Energy and the Scottish distillers. Under the agreement, Helius Energy will own 51 per cent of the company, while the CoRD will own the remaining 49 per cent.