Anheuser-Busch is adding 585 kilowatts (kW) of photovoltaic (PV) modules to its brewery in Newark, N.J. Combined with the 525 kW system that parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev installed at the plant earlier in 2010, the array will provide roughly 10 percent of the brewery’s electricity needs. It’s part of a larger move underway at the world’s biggest brewing company to help reduce its environmental impact—maybe they should replace mascot Spuds Mackenzie with a PV panel.

Orion Energy Systems is installing the array under a power-purchase agreement with Anheuser-Busch, Orion spokesperson Ryan Holl told Clean Energy Authority. Holl said Orion is using Solyndra Inc.’s round PV panels on the roof. The panels, he explained, are lightweight, allowing for an installation that doesn’t penetrate the roof’s surface. The design also allows wind to move around the PV module, cutting down on wind resistance.

The agreement allows Anheuser-Busch to retain the investment dollars that it would have invested in the array for other purposes, Holl added. The brewery’s general manager, Kristopher Scholl told MarketWatch that Orion “made the capital investment” for the array and will install and maintain it.

"We purchase the power from Orion at a beneficial rate,” Scholl said. “And that's where Anheuser-Busch is getting some efficiency from a cost standpoint."

According to Holl, the brewery’s ultimate goal is cover the entire roof with PV. He said that, as Anheuser-Busch restores sections of the roof, that the company will continue to add more PV power to it. But he added that the energy-intensive process of brewing beer will likely not allow roof-mounted PV to produce all the brewery’s electric needs.

In May 2010, Anheuser-Busch announced the initial 525 kW system, which covers 65,000 square feet of the 3.2 million-square-foot brewery. That system alone produces up to 5 percent of the brewery’s power needs, it said. It consists of 3,000 Solyndra PV modules.

"There's always going to be pressures with energy costs going up and with resources becoming scarce and prices going up," Scholl told MarketWatch. "It's great to have options…such as renewable energy. We see that investment as something to ensure our sustainability in the future."