Sierra Nevada Brewery to Make 'Green' Beer Using Tesla Solar Batteries

Elon Musk's ambition for Tesla is getting bigger and weirder. Thanks to a megawatt hours' worth of batteries and a lot of solar panels, it can help a company create "green" beer.

Using Tesla batteries, solar power and a microturbine generator, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is making environmentally-friendly beer in its California facility.

The company did this courtesy of a 1MWh Tesla Powerpack battery system. It takes power from an existing 10,751-panel, a 2MWh solar installation (the largest-owned by any U.S. brewery) as well as a 2MWh microturbine. This set-up allows Sierra Nevada Brewing to offset around 20 percent of its yearly electricity use.

According to The Verge, Tesla's Powerpack battery systems are designedfor businesses, utilities and commercial uses. Meanwhile, the Elon Musk-owned tech company has also designed a residential version of the battery system called Powerwall.

The brewing process of making beer is in itself a consuming process. A ton of electricity to heat and cool batches of water and beer are used for a week's worth of production. Sierra Nevada Brewing and other large companies pay for operations, for peak usage and for monthly usage. Thus, this venture with Tesla will significantly reduce the company's production costs.

Sierra Nevada Co. saves electricity by using 500 kilowatts of power from the Tesla Powerpack battery system. The battery system is also designed to discharge and charge when the power demand spikes and gets low, respectively.

Other companies have also followed suit in using Tesla's power storage system to cut electricity costs. Maui Brewing Company, a brewery based in Hawaii, uses Tesla Powerpacks to store solar energy for overnight use as well as to provide power for Ta'u island in the American Samoa.

Meanwhile, an installation in Ontario, California uses 20 megawatts and MWh Powerpack system from Tesla, the Verge reports.