Pepsico Gatorade Energydrinks

Solar themal for the beverage industry

PepsiCo operates a large facility for producing Gatorade energy drinks in Tolleson in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area in Arizona, USA.

In 2008, the PepsiCo group ordered from SOLID a Solar Thermal system for the production of one million kWh thermal energy per year for the production of the Gatorade. The first system was realized with a size of 893 m³ / 9,640 ft² collector area. Per m² gross collector area, more than 1,250 kWh/year were metered on the official heat meters of the local authorities.

In 2010, an extension to 2568 m² / 27500 ft² was ordered, followed by the third enlargement step in 2012 to the actual size of 3793 m²/ 41000 ft². In 2012, the system was the largest Solar Process Heat installation on the American continent. The installation preheats production water for the soft drink production before the reverse osmosis plant of the site. Besides the thermal energy gains, the electricity demand of the reverse osmosis plant was significantly reduced due to the increased temperature level of the water.