Distillery cuts energy bills by 80%

A specified 20 kW solar installation has delivered 100% renewable operations and an 80% reduction in energy bills at Melbourne distillery Brunswick Aces.

The project centred on SolaX Power Australia’s 20 kW X3-Pro-G2 inverter, selected for its high-efficiency energy conversion and precise load-matching capability.

Brunswick Aces operates custom-built stills and a 20 kW oil heater at its facility, producing both alcoholic gin and non-alcoholic Sapiir — a proprietary range of distilled botanical spirits.

The distillery’s energy demand profile required a system specified exactly to its production load. After evaluating multiple suppliers, the distillery selected SolaX for its combination of product performance, system specification support and financing guidance.

Installation was completed by Chase Renewables in two days with no disruption to production operations.

“We went through several suppliers, and it was SolaX that really provided the broad-scale support to implement a project that was exactly right for our needs,” said Stephen Lawrence, Co-Founder and CEO of Brunswick Aces.

“Since we’ve put it in place, we’re proud to say we are now fully renewable and sustainable. We’ve now had our system installed for almost a year, and our only consideration is how do we make more space on the roof for more panels.”

So far, the X3-Pro-G2’s seamless grid integration has ensured uninterrupted production since commissioning, with no monitoring burden on the distillery team.

“Food and beverage manufacturers are sitting on one of the strongest solar ROI cases in the C&I market — predictable loads, high daytime draw and a payback period that’s hard to argue with. Brunswick Aces demonstrates what that looks like in practice,” said Joey Zhang, General Manager of SolaX Power Australia.

‘SolaX’s hassle-free energy generation works in the background so the team can focus on distilling — no monitoring required, no stress about whether their system is performing. SolaX simply delivers, morning to night.”

Images: Supplied