Project:
Rum Distillery
Completed:
May, 2013
Categories:
Solar Energy
On the island of St. Croix, located in the Virgin Islands, a rum distillery uses one Centaur 50 engine for combined heat and power (CHP). The unit provides both electricity and steam for the distillery’s operations. The Centaur 50 was the first Solar package ever sold to customer the customer, which owns the distillery. The customer is a British alcoholic beverage company, producing beer, wine and spirits under the brand names Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Baileys, J&B, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray, Guinness, Crown Royal, Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines, and Bushmills Irish whiskey.
The project was booked to ship on an aggressive, five- month timeline to meet the customer’s power needs as the refinery was scheduled to shut down. Solar received a bid for the project in April 2012, the Centaur engine was booked in June and shipped out to the customer in December. The unit was commissioned and began operation in early May 2013
The project reduced “their energy costs from 55 cents per kwh for electricity and $38 per thousand pound of steam to less than 12 cents per kW and $28 per thousand pounds of steam.” – Shack Hawkins, Director with Polaris Engineering, Inc.
