The Helius Group has announced a joint venture with The Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRD) called Helius CoRDe. Their goal is to create a renewable (biomass-powered) combined heat and power (CHP) plant for whisky production on Speyside (northeastern Scotland).

The proposed £50 million project will use whisky distillery by-products to fuel a 7.2 MWe GreenSwitch biomass combined heat and power plant and a GreenFields plant which will turn the liquid co-product of whisky production, known as Pot Ale, into a concentrated organic fertiliser and an animal feed for use by local farmers.

This is the first biomass plant to use dark grains (draff) instead of wood as its fuel. The 7.2 MWe is equivalent to power for about 9,000 homes, yet the new CHP is expected to produce only 5,000 tons of CO2 emissions a year. A coal-fired plant of the same size would generate more than three times that amount. Perhaps the best thing about this news is that it makes whiskey, usually treated as a conservative and venerable industry, innovative and reconnects it to the conservation and sustainability of nature.

Here is a list of single malts in Speyside that could benefit from the new plant.

* Aberlour Single Malt
* Ardmore Single Malt
* Aultmore Single Malt
* Balmenach Single Malt
* Balvenie
* Benriach Single Malt
* Benromach Single Malt
* Cardhu Single Malt
* Cragganmore
* Dailuaine
* Dufftown Single Malt
* Glendronach Single Malt
* Glendullan Single Malt
* Glenfarclas Single Malt
* Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky
* Glen Grant
* Glen Keith Single Malt
* The Glenlivet
* The Glenrothes
* Glentauchers Single Malt
* Glen Elgin
* Glen Moray
* Imperial Single Malt
* Inchgower Single Malt
* Knockando
* Linkwood Single Malt
* Lismore Single Malt
* Longmorn Single Malt
* The Macallan
* McClelland’s Speyside
* Miltonduff Single Malt
* Mortlach Single Malt
* Speyburn Single Malt
* The Speyside
* Strathisla Single Malt
* Tamnavulin Glenlivet Single Malt
* Tamdhu
* Tomintoul Single Malt
* Tormore Single Malt