Solar Panels Bring Green Energy to Victory

We are now harnessing the energy of the sun to power our beer-making with the recent installation of 345 photovoltaic panels. Installed by SunPower Builders of Collegeville, PA, the system will generate approximately 82,000kWh of clean, green electricity each year. A system monitor installed in our restaurant here at Victory Brewing Company will display live data regarding the system’s energy generation for patrons to witness. An official ribbon cutting ceremony initiating this solar energy generation system will be held on Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 4:00 pm here at the Victory Brewing Company.

PennEnvironment (www.PennEnvironment.org), recognizes the significance of this installation in stating “Victory’s solar electric project shows that businesses continue to turn to clean, renewable energy to protect the environment and reduce their costs. We congratulate them on their continued commitment to Pennsylvania’s environment, which is only matched by their commitment to making award winning beer.”

From our beginnings in February 1996, founders Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet had environmental responsibility in mind when they decided to rejuvenate the existing buildings of a former Pepperidge Farm factory instead of building new from the ground up. In 2004, we upgraded our brewhouse with a system that is capable of recovering much of the primary energy fueling it. Essentially, a third of the natural gas burned to heat and boil beer is not lost, but retained in the system for heating purposes, enabling us to reduce our CO2 emissions.In 2009 and 2010, we installed a total of 12 thermally-protected, energy efficient fermenters whose cooling and temperature monitoring will now be powered with photovoltaic electricity, in keeping with our ethic of low environmental impact manufacturing.