Tomatin Distillery, a Scottish firm, has secured £1.2m funds from the UK's Green Investment Bank (GIB) to develop a new biomass boiler in Inverness.
The move is said to be the first Scottish investment and is expected to generate heat that will replace about 80% load currently delivered by the distillery’s existing oil-fired boiler.
Around £576,733 has been provided by the GIB’s Energy Saving Investments (ESI) fund and £600,274 from the Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF). The funds were provided in association with Norther Irish wood pellet manufacturer, Balca.
GIB chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said: "We have a strong pipeline of investments in Scotland and hope to be able to announce further investments in distilleries, as well as other projects, very soon."
Welcoming the investment, Scotland state secretary Michael Moore remarked: "It demonstrates that combining Scotland’s expertise in the financial and green sectors with a strong transaction team in London, can deliver significant benefits for businesses and local communities across Scotland."
The company estimates that the green boiler will narrow down emissions of about 96,500tons of greenhouse gases over a period of 20 years, besides actering to power requirements of the distillery.