Heineken Tests Heat Battery to Brew Beer With Zero Carbon

Heineken is installing a giant heat battery at its brewery near Lisbon, Portugal, that will turn renewable electricity into brewing steam without burning any fossil fuels.

The Dutch brewing giant partnered with California-based Rondo Energy and Portuguese utility EDP to install a 100 megawatt-hour battery made of special heat-storing bricks. An onsite solar plant and clean grid electricity will charge the battery, which then releases high-temperature steam for making beer.

The system generates 7 megawatts of continuous steam that works exactly like steam from traditional fossil fuel boilers. The best part? Heineken won't need to change a single step in how it brews its beer.

The Central de Cervejas e Bebidas brewery will get its heat under a service agreement with EDP, meaning Heineken pays for the steam rather than owning the equipment. The system is scheduled to start operating in April 2027.

The Ripple Effect

This represents one of the largest heat batteries in the global beverage industry and could pave the way for similar switches across manufacturing. Industrial heat accounts for a massive chunk of global carbon emissions because factories need extremely high temperatures that have traditionally required burning coal, oil, or natural gas.

Breweries, food processors, chemical plants, and manufacturers all need reliable steam and heat. Until recently, batteries could only store electricity, not the scorching temperatures many factories require.

Heat batteries like Rondo's solve that problem by storing energy in materials that can handle extreme heat. When the factory needs steam, the stored heat gets released on demand, just like flipping a switch on a traditional boiler.

The technology opens doors for industries that want to clean up their operations but can't easily electrify their processes. A factory powered by renewable electricity and heat batteries can keep making the same products with the same quality while slashing its carbon footprint.

For Heineken, this installation supports its broader goal to decarbonize production sites worldwide. The brewery will produce the same beer customers know and love, but with a much lighter environmental impact.

As more companies prove these systems work at commercial scale, the technology could spread to thousands of factories that currently depend on fossil fuels for heat.