Pulteney Community Win Award as 'Whisky Heating Scheme' Commended.

25/08/2004

The Wick District Heating Scheme Co-operative, of which Old Pulteney's distillery is the centre-piece, has won Best Community Initiative at the Scottish Green Energy Awards, held recently in Edinburgh. The award acknowledges the originality and revolutionary ground-breaking approach of the development, which will begin construction at Pulteney Distillery in Wick in 2005.

It was announced earlier this year that Old Pulteney Single Malt Whisky is set to become a true winter warmer following its selection to pilot the first District Heating Scheme set in a distillery - a pioneering environmental initiative that is to reduce heating and electricity costs in its local community.

As the chosen base for Scotland's first biomass fuelled heat and power scheme, Pulteney Distillery - home to the UK mainland's most northerly single malt whisky - will trial plans to provide environmentally-friendly, low cost heat to almost 600 householders in the area. The initiative will significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a suggested 5,100 tonnes annually, as well as significantly reducing costs for local residents and businesses.

Spearheaded by the Highland Council and Integrated Energy Utilities, the District Heating Scheme was awarded a £1.54million grant by the Energy Saving Trust with a further £1.8 million having been secured from the council's Housing and Social Committee.

Pulteney Distillery's suitability for the initiative is due to it's use of 'worm condensers' in the distillation process. This helps to create Old Pulteney's distinctive flavour and aroma but is more costly and less efficient than more modern distillation methods. The excess thermal energy generated in distillation will be boosted to a higher temperature in a woodchip fired boiler before being pumped to surrounding homes. This will provide affordable central heating and domestic hot water. Both the distillery and the community will benefit from significantly more efficient utilisation of the excess thermal energy.

The Green Energy Awards highlight the achievements of organisations' trailblazing work in the renewables field. The 2004 Award winners were chosen by an expert group of industry leaders, politicians and environmental champions, including Paul Abernethy (Senior Executive, Scottish Enterprise), Tony Amor (Chief Executive, ITI Energy) and Richard Dixon (Head of Policy, WWF Scotland).

Graham MacWilliam, Distilleries General Manager for Inver House Distillers commented: 'To have won such a prestigious award before the District Heating Scheme has started operating is testament to how ground-breaking the initiative is. For us, our involvement is incredibly exciting and we're delighted that our Distillery is going to play such a key role in helping the Wick community.'

Maf Smith, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "This is an excellent example of how a community can use renewable energy to benefit everyone, and Pulteney Distillery is to be congratulated for the part it is playing. Big energy savings are being made and individual households are getting cheaper heat. It's a win-win situation."

For further information, please contact Pamela Scobbie of Burt Greener Communications on 0141 248 6007 or pam@burtgreener.co.uk

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