Solar-brewed beer? It’ll soon be a thing at this Georgia brewery

Athens-based Terrapin Beer Co. is taking its environmental sustainability efforts to the next level.

The brewery is set to be the first in Georgia to purchase renewable power at its facility. Through a partnership with renewable power company Cherry Street Energy, a new solar array will be installed on the Terrapin rooftop, as well as solar-panel sunshades in the brewery's parking lot.
The set up will offset about 30% of Terrapin's energy consumption with a renewable resource. Atlanta-based Cherry Street will own, operate and maintain the array and sell the power generated back to Terrapin.
"We are thrilled to partner with Terrapin to help with their commitment to be a leader in sustainability," said Samantha Lenard, Cherry Street Energy's director of sustainability in a prepared statement. She said the energy saved by Terrapin will be the equivalent of taking 65 passenger cars off of the road every year.
Dubbed Terraprint, Terrapin's sustainability efforts "accounts for any impact Terrapin might have on the environment and the communities it touches," according to a press release.
"Every decision we make at the brewery has an effect," said Terrapin president Dustin Watts. "Be it the local waterways we pull from, the energy each shift consumes, the soil we help build through composting, or any of the resources we draw on to manufacture, we choose to be aware of these effects and strive to keep our impact on these resources to a minimum."
Other current Terrapin sustainability initiatives include the installation of LED lighting with automated sensors in its warehouse and high efficiency on-demand boilers in the brewery; implementation of a clean-in-place system on brewing and fermentation tanks  to reduce water usage;  composting of byproduct from the wastewater pre-treatment facility; and the packaging of beer in recyclable aluminum cans.

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