News

New Italian craft beers “cheering” for geothermal energy

New Italian craft beers “cheering” for geothermal energy Vapori di Birra Background Image with three Geothermal Beers. Source: Vapori di Birra Facebook Site
Francisco Rojas 23 Jul 2014

Three new craft beers – Magma, Geyser and Sulfurea – are being produced by Vapori di Birra, a brewery and green start-up based near Larderello, thanks to the steam produced by Enel Green Power’s geothermal facility.

Three new beers are being produced thanks to Enel Green Power’s geothermal production in Tuscany. Magma, Geyser and Sulfurea were created by the recently established Vapori di Birra in Sasso Pisano, near the Group’s Larderello production facilities, where it uses geothermal steam to produce its brews.

The idea of producing beer from steam from geothermal energy production process was conceived in 2011 and put into practice in last year by Vapori di Birra. Edo Volpi, who had worked for some years in geothermal energy, asked master brewer Enrico Ciani to get involved in his beer project, which uses high-quality raw materials and has a supply chain that respects for the environment. By combining tradition and innovation the green start-up has become Italy’s first craft brewing company that uses geothermal steam to power its production, and it began producing the double malt Magma, the Sulfurea pale ale and the Weiss Geyser just this year.

A huge range of products have been created thanks to EGP’s geothermal energy in the small towns of the Tuscan hills. A number of agricultural enterprises in Monterotondo Marittimo use steam from EGP’s plants in the production of their pit-aged cheeses, just like pork meat factories do for the aging of their Cinta Senese sausages. The geothermal menu also includes vegetables: each year Parvus Flos, a cooperative in Radicondoli near Siena, produces more than 12 tonnes of organic basil that is cultivated in 20,000 square metres of greenhouses heated with steam from EGP facilities.

Respect for nature and an almost complete removal of preservatives are the strong points of the use of geothermal energy in food processing. Steam is not only valuable for the quality of products but also for business’ balance sheets, which are seeing a cut in energy supply costs of up to 10 percent. This combination between good food and green energy led to the establishment of a Tuscan food and renewable energy community in 2009, following an agreement between the regional Slow Food association, the Slow Food Foundation for biodiversity and the Consortium for the Development of Geothermal Areas (CoSviG).

Source: Press Release – ENEL Website