As any owner of a fast-growing craft brewery knows, managing costs is the key for fueling growth. When Jonathan Porter, co-owner and head brewmaster of Smog City Brewing, was faced with rising energy and capex costs associated with a planned expansion, he decided it was time to reduce his dependence on grid power.

He turned to PTG Water & Energy — a company with deep experience helping businesses reduce their energy bills and the costs associated with heating the water used for brewing.

PTG has a patented process that uses natural gas (or biogas from a brewery) to power a turbine that generates electricity. The process also captures exhaust heat which, in turn, can be used to heat the large amount of water used by the brewery.

By integrating PTG's system with its production process, Smog City will lower its costs, reduce its carbon footprint, and derive valuable facility operational data. The brewery also benefits from the availability of thousands of gallons of hot water — essentially for free.

Learn how this works here in our special explainer video for brewers:

Craft Brewer Smog City Selects PTG Water & Energy to Generate Onsite Power and Promote Energy Efficiency

PTG’s water-energy cogeneration technology equips Smog City with a novel approach to combat rising electricity costs and minimize capital expenditures associated with a major expansion

SAN LEANDRO, Calif.—March 20, 2018: PTG Water & Energy (PTG), innovator of onsite power generation technology optimized for craft breweries, has been selected by Smog City Brewing Co. to provide onsite electricity and process heat at its primary craft beer production facility in Torrance, California. By integrating PTG’s water-energy cogeneration system with its production process, Smog City will lower its costs, reduce its carbon footprint, and derive valuable facility operational data.  

Smog City Brewing is a family-run craft brewery focused entirely on creating and distributing exceptional beers. Strong consumer demand for its products has meant that Smog City has been operating at capacity ever since it opened in 2011. Recently, the brewer expanded its taproom space in Torrance, and has broken ground on a new expansion that will soon be filled with more fermentation tanks, brite tanks, and a new bottling line. Rapid expansion of brewery operations has required more capital resources.

After researching several approaches to address growth, Jonathan Porter, Smog City’s co-owner and head brewmaster, became intrigued by the capabilities of PTG’s water and energy system, which can generate most of the power needed for brewery operations and increase energy efficiency. Initial calculations showed the PTG system could reduce electricity and natural gas bills by more than 50 percent. Better still, the system would eliminate the need to purchase an additional boiler, saving more than $70,000 in capital expenditures. 

Given Smog City’s capital resource plans, and in order to preserve expansion resources, PTG agreed to design, build, install and commission its water-energy system in accordance with Smog City’s specifications and with no upfront investment or cost to Smog City. Smog City will purchase the electricity and thermal energy produced by the PTG-owned system at reduced rates compared with current utility-based rates, immediately delivering a significant portion of total potential savings to its brewing facility operations. 

“We seriously considered purchasing the PTG energy-water system outright, but this would have required us to divert capital from brewery system improvements. We worked with PTG to come up with an alternate approach, whereby PTG incurs the upfront system investment costs, and we share the energy cost savings,” said Jonathan Porter, co-owner and head brewmaster at Smog City Brewing. “Our energy costs will be significantly lower, and we will be using much less energy. PTG will handle all the operational details, while we can focus on making great beer. As an additional benefit, we have an option to purchase the system outright after a few years of operation.”

“PTG is very pleased that Smog City’s founders have selected our technology to reduce their energy consumption and costs, and support their next phase of growth,” said Greg Ryan, CEO and co-founder of PTG. “We are also proud to see Smog City Brewery join our growing roster of brewery customers that depend on PTG for risk–free control over their energy and water resources, lowered operating costs, and the means to conserve resources.”

PTG Water & Energy: the only modular and scalable energy-water systems optimized for craft breweries

PTG Water & Energy’s eco-friendly, electric energy generation and thermal power systems solve several problems for craft breweries and provide some key benefits. These include reducing electricity costs, lowering heating and boiler costs, promoting more sustainable, efficient operations, and providing valuable operational performance data. Breweries with onsite wastewater treatment facilities can also benefit from our other technologies and systems, such as non-toxic, chemical-free and low carbon footprint wastewater disinfection systems.

About Smog City Brewing Co.
In October 2011, Smog City Brewing Co. began brewing beer at the Tustin Brewing Co. (TBC) brewpub. By utilizing TBC's excess fermentation capacity, Smog City was able to brew well-crafted beers, and personally distribute to restaurants and bars throughout Los Angeles County. In 2012, Smog City purchased custom, full-scale brewing equipment, and formalized plans for a new brewery and taproom in Torrance, CA. Smog City opened this new brewery and taproom in May 2013. Smog City keeps growing, recently adding an outdoor food hall constructed from re-purposed recycled shipping containers and remains committed to sustainable brewing operations.

About PTG Water & Energy
PTG Water & Energy specializes in integrating water and energy operations for its customers, creating platforms that reduce waste, cut costs, and ultimately deliver attractive returns on investment. In addition, the system platforms collect previously unobtainable data to deliver increased production efficiencies and predictive service analytics. PTG’s technologies are positive from a sustainability perspective; they greatly increase the efficiency of resource use by reducing waste and supporting water reuse. This means less consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. PTG has won numerous awards including the Katerva Award, the Artemis Top 50 Water Tech award, and the Popular Science “Best of What’s New” award. For more information, visit www.ptgwe.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (@PTGWaterEnergy).