Sandalford Winery: A Case Study | Infinite Energy

Sandalford Winery: A Case Study

Sandalford Winery: A Case Study

Written by Infinite Energy

Founded in 1840, the award winning Sandalford Winery is one of the oldest and largest privately owned wineries in Western Australia.

Infinite Energy, in conjunction with HFM Asset Management, was selected to engineer a holistic solution to reduce Sandalford Winery’s carbon footprint. This included:

  • Conducting a detailed energy audit and new maintenance practices
  • Installing a Solar PV System and diesel generator
  • Installation of Power factor correction
  • Fitting smart metering 

 

The Solar Solution

After carefully auditing Sandalford’s energy usage, Infinite Energy recommended the installation of a 98.8kW capacity Solar PV System consisting of 380 REC Solar Panels, a Fronius Agilo Inverter, and an Integrated Greensense Monitoring Solution.

Sandalford winery solar system

Installed in October 2015, the 98.8kW system boasts an energy output of 170,000kWh per year or 465kWh per day, which not only offsets a significant proportion of the winery’s electricity usage, but also protects Sandalford against future energy price rises.

Since installing the system late last year, Sandalford’s total emission reduction is the equivalent of planting 338 trees and growing them for 25 years, or removing 118 cars from the road for a month.

 

The Solar Results

The diagram below shows the actual energy generation and usage for May 20, 2016, a sunny day with little cloud cover.

Sandalford winery solar system

Image credit: Greensense

We can see that the Solar PV System produced 315kWh, which made up 23% or nearly ¼ of their total energy usage. 0kWh of this electricity was exported to the grid, which means Sandalford was able to utilise 100% of their very own solar generation, displacing a huge amount of electricity that would have previously been bought from the grid. In summer, this figure would be even higher.

 Sandalford winery solar system

Image credit: Greensense

This graph shows that on the same day, May 20, Sandalford used the same amount of electricity as 78 average Australian households, with Cellar Sales and Food & Beverage consuming the highest consumption at 52%.

At the time of writing (May 2016) 35% of Sandalford’s total wine process electricity for 2016 has come from its Solar PV System.

To find out how much electricity Sandalford Winery's Solar PV System is producing on any day of the year in real time, click here to view Greenesense's live monitoring system.

 

The Bottom Line

The price of solar power has declined dramatically over the past two years. This, coupled with recent electricity price rises, has meant that the business case for solar is now extremely attractive.

Aside from traditional capital purchase, Infinite Energy also offers alternative ways to purchase solar including PPAs and Solar Leasing, which take away the need for upfront capital.

Infinite Energy is proud to bring the new PPA, SaaS, or Solar as a Service, to the WA Market. Costing significantly less than any other PPA previously offered, SaaS will forever change the way businesses access and pay for their solar energy in WA.

Infinite Energy also offers commercial electricity customers in Perth and the South West of Western Australia a real alternative for their electricity supply via customised tariffs. By supplying electricity in conjunction with solar, we are able to maximise your savings.

Sandalford Winery solar system

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