Backing for £74m green energy plant which will provide steam to The Macallan distillery at Craigellachie

A £74 MILLION green energy plant will help fuel one of the world’s premier whisky brands and power more than 20,000 Speyside homes thanks to backing by the UK Green Investment Bank.

The publicly-funded lender is to join the infrastructure investor John Laing in pumping £26m into the combined heat and power project, alongside £48m debt to be raised from the bond market and guaranteed by the Treasury, which will provide steam to The Macallan distillery at Craigellachie in Moray.

It is expected to generate 87.4 GWh of renewable electricity per annum and 76.8 GWh of renewable heat, with carbon savings equivalent to taking more than 18,000 cars off the road.

The project, developed by Estover Energy, is expected to create 100 construction jobs and 23 permanent posts, and will also provide 90% of all steam required by The Macallan.

It will be fuelled by by-products of the forestry industry, with a consortium of local growers joining big names like Stobert Biomass and UPM Tilhill as suppliers.

Earlier this month Macallan owner Edrington Group got the go-ahead to create a new £100m distillery at Easter Elchies.