Anheuser-Busch InBev and EDF Renewables agree on cooperation for battery storage solution
Next groundbreaking step towards sustainability and energy transition. Decentralised storage of electricity via batteries: Anheuser-Busch InBev and EDF Renewables agree on ten-year cooperation in Germany
Bremen/GER, April 5, 2022 — The stage is set: By 2040, the European business is to play a key role in Anheuser-Busch InBev achieving net zero CO2 emissions across its entire value chain. In terms of renewable electricity, the company and its breweries are in an excellent position. Now comes another groundbreaking building block within the group’s sustainability strategy: with the decentralised storage of electricity via batteries. For this, Anheuser-Busch InBev has now signed a long-term service agreement with EDF Renewables for a period of ten years, in which both companies will cooperate in close coordination in Germany.
The partnership with EDF Renewables has several positive aspects. Through the internal storage of energy, peaks in demand can be absorbed in the breweries, so that the power grid is relieved and the consumption costs of energy are reduced at the same time. EDF Renewables is building large battery storage facilities at four AB InBev sites in Germany. In Munich at Spaten-Löwenbräu, at Hasseröder in Wernigerode and Beck’s in Bremen, the storage facilities have a capacity of up to two megawatts. In addition, a storage facility with a capacity of 300 kilowatts is planned for the Lower Rhine in Issum, where Diebels Alt is brewed, among other things. Installation will take place at all four locations before the end of the year. Commissioning of the battery storage facilities is planned for the beginning of 2023.
EDF Renewables will be responsible for the planning, installation, operation and maintenance of the battery storage systems. As the new battery storages reduce peak loads during high peak times of operation, they provide a relief for the local grid on site. In addition, the high-performance storage systems balance out fluctuating yields from renewable energy sources – both of which support the energy transition.
“The implementation of the storage systems is another consistent step within our sustainability strategy. Our ambition is to use the decentralised battery storage systems in the breweries to cushion the high energy demand and make an important contribution to stabilising the power grids. At the same time, we can significantly reduce our electricity costs with the new technology. A large part of these costs are due to the grid fees, which are significant and continue to rise, and which are based on the highest peak load of the year for companies. With battery storage, we reduce peak loads – and thus noticeably bring down grid fees. Sustainability and economic efficiency go hand in hand here,” says Fried Allers, company spokesman at Anheuser-Busch InBev. According to Fried Allers, the brewery segment faces special challenges in terms of energy demand, as is the case in the entire food industry. After all, urgently needed cooling chains, for example, cannot simply be interrupted or bottling plants switched off.
“We see decentralised electricity storage as the fourth pillar of energy supply in the age of renewable energies – alongside generation, transport and consumption. Battery storage supports the stabilisation of the power grids, makes an important contribution to the security of supply of all electricity consumers and ultimately contributes to the success of the energy transition,” says Clotaire François, Managing Director, EDF Distributed Solutions GmbH.

Anheuser-Busch InBev Germany
Anheuser-Busch InBev Germany (Beck’s, Corona, Spaten), headquartered in Bremen, is a subsidiary of the world’s leading brewing group Anheuser-Busch InBev and is the second largest brewery group in the German beer market. The company employs around 2,300 people at four locations in Germany.
