Heineken Ethiopia to launch US$24.5M green energy project at Kilinto brewery
The project will replace heavy fuel oil with green electricity at Kilinto Brewery, supporting Heineken Ethiopia’s goal of reducing emissions and strengthening local production.
ETHIOPIA – Heineken Ethiopia is set to launch a 4 billion birr (US$24.5M) energy project at its Kilinto Brewery in Addis Ababa in October, enabling the facility to operate without heavy fuel oil.
The project, which took about one and a half years to complete, is already powering the brewery entirely with green electricity, according to Heineken Ethiopia Managing Director Bart De Keninck. The facility is scheduled to be formally inaugurated in the second half of October.
“Normally, to run a brewery, you need heavy oil to heat up the plant,” De Keninck said. “There has been new technology to use green electricity instead of oil, even though it requires huge investment.”
The investment advances Heineken Ethiopia’s ambition, outlined in 2024, to make Kilinto the first carbon-neutral brewery of its size in Africa. The company said it had reduced carbon emissions by 21% over the preceding five years while working to reduce its dependence on imported heavy fuel oil.
Heineken entered Ethiopia in 2011 through the acquisition of Harar and Bedele breweries. It subsequently upgraded the two facilities and built Kilinto Brewery, which was inaugurated in 2015 as part of a €310 million investment announced for its Ethiopian operations.
Kilinto was initially designed with annual production capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres.
The brewer now operates three breweries in Ethiopia: Kilinto, Harar and Bedele. The company said its national production network is powered largely by local talent and expertise.
Heineken’s local supply chain has also expanded since its entry into the country. Its network has grown from 2,500 farmers in 2011 to more than 120,000 Ethiopian farmers. The company achieved 100% local barley sourcing in 2023 and said the shift has helped replace more than US$1.4 billion in imports with Ethiopian-grown barley.
The brewer employs more than 2,500 people, works with about 400 local suppliers annually and has a distribution network reaching approximately 100,000 customers across Ethiopia.
Heineken has also invested about 100 million birr in community housing projects, constructing 215 G+1 houses that benefit communities of about 4,000 people.
Its Ethiopian portfolio includes Heineken, Walia, Bedele and Harar. In April, the company added Desperados to its portfolio following an investment of nearly 500 million birr in local production equipment.
Heineken has also trained and coached about 5,000 Ethiopian professionals through its skills development programmes as it continues expanding its local operations.
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