Maui Brewing Co. plans to install a solar cogeneration system by Cogenra Solar that will provide the Hawaii craft brewer with solar hot water and electricity.
The 24-panel, 60-kilowatt system will occupy less than 2,400 square feet of the roof atop Maui Brewing's Lahaina headquarters, and support the brewery's existing 100 kilowatt photovoltaic installation by supplying electricity for pumps, packaging and cooling, the companies said in a statement. The solar hot water will feed into the facility's clean-in-place and brewing processes.
The system will be installed in the second half of 2012. “Any business that uses a lot of hot water can profit greatly from solar cogeneration, whose hybrid technology provides two benefits: solar hot water and solar electricity," Gilad Almogy, CEO of Cogenra Solar, based in Mountain View, Calif., said in a statement. "Customers in Hawaii, with ample sun exposure and high energy costs, are at a special advantage."