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Swap solar power for Victoria Bitter in Aussie-first program

Victoria Bitter has launched its new program, Solar Exchange, which enables people to trade their excess solar energy for slabs of Victoria Bitter in an Australian first initiative.

The Solar Exchange program allows participants to exchange credit on their power bill, obtained from generating excess solar at home, for VB.

Every $30 worth of credit can be exchanged for a carton of VB, which is then delivered straight to your door.

“Last year we put the Australian sun to work and started brewing VB with 100% offset solar energy. Now we’ve launched this Aussie-first program to thank those who have made the effort to go solar with some hard-earned VB,” said Brian Phan, General Manager Marketing Victoria Bitter.

“There are currently only 500 spots available. While we want to have more people exchanging solar credit for beer down the track, for now any beer lover who wants to participate should sign-up quickly.”

The launch of the program follows Asahi Beverages’ acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries in 2020 and is part of Asahi’s sustainability agenda, which includes a commitment to be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025.

In 2018 CUB adopted renewable energy as the way forward with the signing of a 12-year Power Purchase Agreement for 74,000 MWh per year of renewable energy from the giant solar farm outside Mildura.

Solar Exchange has been developed in partnership with the 5-star rated energy retailer Diamond Energy, and Power Ledger, a blockchain-powered software platform that enables energy trading.

VB will receive the solar credits it obtains under the exchange from Diamond Energy and re-invest them back into the program or towards the business’ broader sustainability goals.

“We are proud to partner with VB and look forward to helping Australians get the most out of their solar through this innovative solar exchange program – it’s good for them and the environment,” said Tony Sennitt, Managing Director, Diamond Energy.

To apply for the program, energy consumers with solar excess, need to switch their electricity retailer to Diamond Energy, and agree to the VB Solar Exchange terms and conditions.

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