Lagunitas Signs Up to Save $22.5M in Water, Wastewater, & Energy Costs with Cambrian Innovation’s WEPA

BOSTON, MA AND AZUSA, CA — DECEMBER 07, 2016

Cambrian Innovation, a commercial provider of distributed wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions for industrial facilities, today announced that one of the nation’s fastest growing craft breweries, Lagunitas Brewing Company, will be the first to use Cambrian’s novel water-energy purchase agreement (WEPA). Under the WEPA, a first for the industrial wastewater treatment industry, Cambrian will leverage its award-winning EcoVolt® product suite to bring Lagunitas onsite wastewater treatment and renewable energy generation as a service. At zero money down, and with Cambrian monetizing all environmental benefits, the WEPA will save the brewery a projected $22.5 million over its lifecycle.

Since 2014, Lagunitas has utilized an EcoVolt solution to perform onsite wastewater treatment, water reuse, and clean energy recovery at its facility in Petaluma, CA. Now, leveraging Cambrian’s novel WEPA and EcoVolt technology, Lagunitas’s newest Azusa brewery, slated to open in early 2018, will be capable of producing an estimated 300,000 gallons of recycled water per day, over 2,300,000 kWh per year of gross renewable electricity, and 130,000 therms per year of gross renewable heat, for a simple monthly fee. As the brewery increases production at the Azusa facility to over one million barrels per year, it will look to Cambrian to treat increased wastewater flows through the installation of additional EcoVolt modules.

“We are in an exciting time at Lagunitas. The new brewery at Azusa, and the addition of an EcoVolt solution, will allow us to expand our production capacity and keep up with demand,” said Lagunitas CFO, Leon Sharyon. “With the WEPA, we’re able to maintain our high level of commitment to sustainable water and energy use, while decreasing our utility costs. Cambrian will be our partner in managing wastewater treatment, allowing us to focus all of our time and energy on what we love most – brewing beer.”

To date, the craft beer and wine industries have treated 15,000,000 gallons of wastewater and reclaimed 3,000,000 gallons of recycled water while producing renewable energy for onsite use with Cambrian’s EcoVolt solutions, dramatically reducing CO2 emissions. As the drought becomes more acute in key markets, the WEPA will help industrial water users stabilize monthly operational costs amidst growing water market volatility. The WEPA deal offers Lagunitas immediate savings and represents a powerful model for the food and beverage industry to continue to scale while becoming more resilient to uncertain water market conditions in the future.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to work with Lagunitas on this exciting project. With the WEPA, we make it our business to convert their wastewater streams into clean energy and clean water, leveraging the unique capabilities of our modular EcoVolt product suite,” said Cambrian Innovation Founder and CEO, Matthew Silver. “One of the most instrumental aspects of solar energy’s widespread adoption was the introduction of renewable power as a service, which allows customers to purchase solar electricity rather than solar panels. The WEPA is akin to solar’s power purchase agreement (PPA), helping industrial producers generate renewable resources from their wastewater streams with zero money down and zero ownership and operational risk. The WEPA will help Cambrian Innovation reach more customers and provide higher benefits, in support of our vision to reshape the industrial water infrastructure in the 21st century.”