Napa Valley winery offsets nearly 80% of electricity with 427-kW solar array + microgrid

Schneider Electrical introduced Domaine Carneros, grower-producer of ultra-premium Carneros glowing wine and restricted manufacturing pinot noirs, lowered its carbon emissions final yr by way of the deployment of a solar-powered microgrid, reaching $70,000 in annual financial savings.

Within the coronary heart of Napa Valley, Domaine Carneros has deployed Schneider Electrical’s EcoStruxure Microgrid, a standardized, validated microgrid platform that manages the vineyard’s onsite vitality technology. By its deployment of photo voltaic arrays and the microgrid, Domaine Carneros self-generates almost 80% of its vitality for vineyard operations comparable to fermentation, bottling and wine tastings.

“Deploying a resilient and energy-efficient microgrid answer has been essential to the vineyard’s operations in gentle of an rising variety of Public Security Energy Shutoffs and excessive climate occasions which have posed important threats to the winemaking business in California,” stated Jana Gerber, North American President of Microgrids for Schneider Electrical. “The system permits the vineyard to handle vitality from its photo voltaic array, battery, and generator, offering backup energy. All of that is managed by way of our microgrid controls, which permits for seamless energy to be offered to the vineyard.”

The vineyard manages its vitality utilization by way of Schneider Electrical’s EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor software program platform, which makes use of AI to observe vitality technology from the on-site Distributed Vitality Assets (DERs). The deployment of the microgrid doubled Domaine Carneros’ vitality technology capability over the photo voltaic system that the vineyard initially put in 20 years in the past. Extra photo voltaic vitality is saved within the onsite battery to be used at evening or throughout an influence outage, and the backup generator is out there to offer extra vitality when solar energy isn’t out there.

“Our potential to craft the highest-quality wines and create essentially the most memorable wine experiences depends on a dependable and environment friendly supply of vitality,” stated Remi Cohen, CEO of Domaine Carneros. “With Schneider Electrical’s superior microgrid expertise, we’ve been capable of revolutionize our vitality infrastructure and maximize our renewable vitality use. At a time when energy outages have gotten extra frequent, as a consequence of wildfires and extreme climate, this has been essential to maintaining our operations on-line.”

The microgrid permits Domaine Carneros to have full self-sufficiency throughout energy outages. It permits the vineyard to attach and disconnect from the grid, permitting for operation in “island mode,” with a battery storing vitality to be used as wanted. If the ability grid goes down, or electrical energy costs peak, the microgrid responds, offering a steady provide of energy throughout disruptions to the grid and serving to keep away from extra electrical energy demand prices throughout peak hours.

Schneider Electrical partnered with PowerFlex, a division of EDF Renewables, to design the microgrid. PowerFlex offered {the electrical} infrastructure to combine the solar energy and battery storage system.

Information merchandise from Schneider Electrical