Four Speyside whisky distilleries are to be linked up to the gas network after the near-£4million contract was awarded to infrastructure company Fulcrum.
Sheffield-based Fulcrum, which provides technical engineering, design, project management, consultancy and audit services across gas and multi-utility connections, said yesterday its new eight-mile pipeline would deliver nearly 166,000 cubic feet of gas every hour for six months of the year.
The four distilleries are Cardhu, Knockando, Tamdhu and the recently opened Dalmunach site at Carron near Aberlour.
Fulcrum said the new connection to the gas network would help to cut their carbon footprints by reducing their reliance on fuel oil and ending the need for road tanker journeys from April 1 to September 30.
Domestic gas usage is lower in these months, freeing up capacity on existing local infrastructure which Fulcrum said was unable to support the four distilleries during the rest of the year.
The contract was awarded by a partnership of Diageo, which owns Cardhu and Knockando, Chivas Brothers – the owner of Dalmunach – and Ian MacLeod Distillers (IMD), which runs Tamdhu. The three partners will share the cost of the new pipeline.
Fulcrum said work involving a team of its own project engineers and managers would get under way next month.
It added: “Among the challenges the team will overcome is the transportation of gas across the river Spey.
“A bespoke-engineered system has been designed by Fulcrum, which will carry the pipeline across the river at Carronbridge without impacting on the local environment and dramatic scenery.”
The group’s largest contract to date, a £7.6million project completed last year, brought gas to Cragganmore, The Glenlivet, Tormore and Tomintoul distilleries on behalf of Chivas Brothers, Diageo and Angus Dundee.
Fulcrum chief executive Martin Donnachie said: “We are very proud to continue our relationship with Scotland’s historic whisky industry and support its drive to achieve long-term environmental efficiencies.
“This latest project will also further strengthen Scotland’s gas infrastructure by bringing new connections to important businesses that are major local employers and make a significant contribution to the economy.”
Chivas production director Gordon Buist said: “Chivas Brothers is pleased to collaborate on another gas pipeline project, bringing as it does considerable transport and carbon footprint benefits.
“It does, however, highlight the constraints of the gas network in this area of Scotland, in that the gas supply will only be available during the summer.”
IMD finance director Mike Younger added: “We look forward to the time when the supply is available throughout the year.”
Diageo distilling and maturation director Keith Miller said: “The new pipeline will improve the sustainability of our distilleries and it demonstrates again the contribution our industry makes to the local economy.”