E-Malt.com News article: Ethiopia: Heineken Ethiopia to launch a 4 billion birr energy project at its Kilinto brewery in October

Heineken Ethiopia will launch a 4 billion birr energy project at its Kilinto brewery in Addis Ababa in October that will allow the plant to operate without heavy fuel oil, marking the company’s latest investment after 15 years of expansion in Ethiopia, Birr Metrics reported on September 1.

The project, which has taken about one and a half years to build, is already running the brewery entirely on green electricity, Bart De Keninck, managing director of Heineken Ethiopia, told Birrmetrics at an event marking the company’s 15th anniversary on Tuesday.

The facility will be formally inaugurated in the second half of October.

“Normally, to run a brewery, you need heavy oil to heat up the plant,” Bart said. “There has been new technology to use green electricity instead of oil, even though it requires huge investment.”

Brewing requires substantial heat, particularly during the boiling stage. The new system replaces heavy fuel oil used for heating with electricity, allowing the Kilinto plant to operate entirely on green electricity.

The investment advances an ambition Heineken Ethiopia outlined in 2024 to make Kilinto the first carbon-neutral brewery of its size in Africa. The company said at the time that it had cut carbon emissions by 21 percent over the preceding five years and was reducing its dependence on imported heavy fuel oil.

Heineken entered Ethiopia in 2011 through the acquisition of Harar and Bedele breweries. It subsequently upgraded the two breweries and built the Kilinto brewery, which was inaugurated in 2015 as part of a 310 million euro investment announced by the company for its Ethiopian operations. The facility was initially designed with annual production capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres.

Heineken now operates three breweries in Ethiopia — Kilinto, Harar and Bedele — forming a national production network that the company says is powered largely by local talent and expertise.

Over its 15 years in Ethiopia, the company says it has invested more than one billion euros in the country. It has also paid more than 103 billion birr in taxes over the period, according to the company’s latest figures presented during the event.

Heineken’s local supply chain has also expanded significantly. What began with 2,500 farmers in 2011 has grown into a network connected to more than 120,000 Ethiopian farmers. Heineken achieved 100 percent local barley sourcing in 2023 and says the shift has helped replace more than 1.4 billion US dollars of imports with Ethiopian-grown barley.

The Dutch brewer currently employs more than 2,500 people and works with about 400 local suppliers annually, while its distribution network reaches approximately 100,000 customers across Ethiopia.

Heineken has also invested in community projects around its breweries. It has built 215 G+1 houses with an investment of about 100 million birr, benefiting communities comprising about 4,000 people..

Its community and environmental programmes have also included livelihood and water-balancing initiatives, land restoration and tree planting. The company says more than 82,000 community members have been supported through such programmes, more than 7,400 hectares of degraded land have been restored and more than 5.5 million trees have been planted or naturally regenerated.

The brewer has expanded its portfolio in Ethiopia over the years, with brands including Heineken, Walia, Bedele and Harar. In April, it added Desperados to its portfolio following an investment of nearly 500 million birr in local production equipment.

The company has also invested in developing local skills. About 5,000 Ethiopian professionals have been trained and coached through its programmes.

Fifteen years after entering Ethiopia, the beer maker says its operations now span brewing, agriculture, manufacturing, distribution and community programmes, with the October launch set to mark another stage in the company’s investment in the local brewing industry.


02 September, 2026