A California winemaker has realised annual energy bill savings of $50,000 thanks to an onsite wind turbine.
As part of wider sustainability efforts, two years ago Scheid Family Wines pulled out roughly an eighth of a hectare of vines and replaced them with a 1.85MW GE turbine, supplied and maintained by Foundation Windpower.
Scheid chief operating officer Kurt Gollnick said: “It’s a huge money saver.” He said the savings quickly allowed the business to quickly recoup the loss of its grapevines.
Scheid pays Foundation Windpower a rate that is 25% less than what the winery business would be paying to their local utility, translating into annual energy cost savings of $50,000.
In seven years, Scheid will have the option to buy the turbine from the wind energy equipment company.
The Scheid family-owned estate, which spans 12 vineyards, produces enough pinot noir, chardonnay and other varieties to fill more than a million cases every year.
Besides having sufficient capacity to meet the winery’s energy needs, on a windy day the turbine can supply enough surplus to power 125 homes in the nearby community.
So far, the turbine has generated 4.65 million kilowatt hours.
Scheid has in place several other measures to run its winery sustainably. These include recycling all of the water used in production.
Barn owls have been encouraged to make their home on site to manage pests, while cover crops, such as wildflowers and grasses, between the grape rows prevent weeds and erosion.
In the buildings Scheid has installed skylights and automatic light sensors to cut down on electricity use.
All of grape pomace, stems and seeds are composted to use as fertiliser in the vineyards.
“We have turbines at breweries, water plants, a grocery store, a dairy farm and prisons,” said GE Renewable Energy account manager Robert Balletti, “this is our only winery.”
Gollnick says Scheid spent some time looking into solar, but it wouldn’t work as the panels would get too dusty from the winds and too sticky from the ocean’s humidity, so it looked at wind.
He said batteries are being considered to further increase the energy and cost savings from the turbine.
“Our carbon footprint in wine should be smaller, but we’re not going to get there unless millennials demand sustainable products. We have wind-powered wine!”