Work has started on a £6million bioenergy plant at a Moray distillery.
Diageo is building the structure at Glenlossie at Elgin.
The plant will produce energy by burning draff – the spent grain left over from distilling whisky.
It will use about 30,000 tonnes of draff a year, the byproduct from the production of more than 2million gallons of Scotch whisky.
The plant will produce steam which will be used at the Glenlossie and Mannochmore distilleries, and Glenlossie’s on-site dark grains plant, which makes animal feedstuffs.
Yesterday, the drinks giant announced it would give a £12,700 donation to nearby Birnie village hall, to instal solar panels on the roof.
Fraser Marshall, of the hall committee, said: “We are extremely grateful to Diageo for this generous gift to allow us to help secure the future of Birnie hall.
“It will enable us not only to reduce our environmental impact, but also to provide a steady income stream from the sale of surplus power to the National Grid.”
Sean Pritchard, Diageo’s production development manager, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in our planning application to build a new bioenergy plant at Glenlossie.
“This is another significant step forward in Diageo’s journey to environmental sustainability.
“I am equally pleased that we are able to join forces with the local community in our drive towards great sustainability.”
The £6million investment at Glenlossie comes on top of a capital investment plan which Diageo announced earlier this summer to invest around £20million in expanding its malt whisky distillation capacity in Speyside over the next two to three years. The firm is also investing £3.2million in increasing capacity at the Glen Ord distillery near Inverness and £3.5million in increasing capacity at its Caol Ila distillery on Islay.
Birnie Hall celebrated its centenary in 2011.
The hall is in use most evenings, hosting regular indoor bowling and line-dancing sessions, together with monthly meetings of the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute and Sigma, Moray’s astronomy club.