The site distills, ages in barrels, and bottles several of the company’s products and brands, such as Canadian whisky Crown Royal. It is responsible for 290 direct jobs and purchases grain from 1,500 Quebec farmers.
The Valleyfield plant will be Diageo’s first distillery in North America to make the transition to carbon neutrality via implementing four energy efficiency measures and two measures to convert from natural gas and fuel oil to electricity.
This will involve acquiring specialized equipment, such as a mechanical vapour recompression evaporator, steam dryers and an electric boiler.
Diageo says it will also reduce electricity consumption at the site during peak periods to avoid putting pressure on the network and therefore contribute to the management of Quebec’s energy resources. During these periods, it will use alternative green energy sources to maintain production.
This project represents an investment of $94m ($75.5m USD). Diageo will receive $45.8m (436.8m USD) in financial contributions from the governments of Quebec and Canada, along with Hydro-Québec, to support the electrical conversion of its Diageo Valleyfield manufacturing plant.
The project will eliminate the consumption of approximately 21,000,000 m3 of natural gas and 1,500 litres of heavy fuel oil, which is the equivalent to an annual reduction of nearly 40,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec or taking more than 11,000 cars off the road for a year.
