AUSTRALIA’S largest brewer Carton & United Breweries (CUB) has signed a 12-year power purchase agreement for 74,000 megawatt hours per year of solar energy for its manufacturing plants.

German company BayWa will provide the power from its 112MW Karadoc solar farm in Mildura, Victoria, which is currently under construction by Melbourne-based Beon Energy Solutions. 

 BayWa has already constructed a 4km grid connection for the plant. 

CUB CEO Jan Craps hailed the deal as significant step toward its vision of securing 100% of its electricity from renewables. 

"As one of Australia's first and leading manufacturing businesses, we have a responsibility to ensure we play our part in tackling climate change and a range of environmental challenges," Craps said.  

CUB is also moving toward onsite solar generation, which will see solar panels on the roofs at each of its breweries, and says it is Yatala brewery is a world leader in water efficiency. 

Craps said the investment with BayWA also stacked up economically, with CUB now expected to pay a reduced price to power its operations. 

"Moving to renewable energy will ensure that we have certainty of supply and pricing, something that is incredibly important for a manufacturing business like ours."

CUB sites will remain connected to the grid, allowing excess capacity to be fed back into the system.

CUB are a supporting partner of Energy Club NT.