Lion installs solar on NZ’s largest brewery

1st April 2025 By Staff Reporter | news@propertyticker.co.nz | @propertyticker

Lion New Zealand is installing rooftop solar at its Auckland brewery – the country’s largest – The Pride, where the company can run 160,000 cans and bottles per hour across four production lines.

Lion NZ managing director Craig Baldie said being one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in the country, the 2,424 panels covering an area of around 5,400 square metres, would be visible from flights into and out of nearby Auckland Airport. 

At 1.21 megawatts, it was estimated that solar energy will provide 14.4% of the brewery’s electricity needs per year, equivalent to approximately 228 average households.

“Since 2019 – our Science Based Targets baseline year – we have reduced Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions at the Pride by 13% per kilolitre of beverage produced,” Baldie said. 

“By investing in solar, we will increase our reliance on new renewable energy, reduce our carbon emissions further and free up more than a megawatt of demand from the national grid.”

Lion, a Toitū net carbonzero certified company, is partnering with Meridian Energy, Reid Technology and Solar Vision.

The project is targeting completion in April and is being funded through a Power Purchase Agreement with Meridian.