A $170 million clean energy grant for manufacturer Kraft Heinz and a $75 million clean energy grant for beverage maker Diageo have been canceled by the Department of Energy. In total, DOE has canceled 24 clean energy grants totaling more than $3.7 billion, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
With its clean energy grant Kraft Heinz had planned to install electrification equipment like heat pumps, electric heaters, electric boilers, anaerobic digesters, biogas boilers, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and thermal energy storage in 10 of its facilities across the country. The plan would’ve resulted in reducing energy use by 23 percent and natural gas use by 97 percent by 2030. The grant would’ve also helped create more than Kraft Heinz plans to continue to invest in clean energy, though it may be forced to scale back some of its planned projects.
The clean energy grant for Diageo’s was also planned to be used to electrify the company’s plants in Plainfield, Illinois and Shelbyville, Kentucky.
The grants would’ve helped the company replace a natural gas-powered, heat-intensive process with clean energy, saving more than 17,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
