Watershed winery installs SunPower solar system

Watershed Premium Wines, located in Margaret River, Western Australia, has installed a 149 kW solar power system on a roof shared by the company’s barrel store and wine warehouse.

The high-efficiency system, from SunPower, features 456 E20/327 solar panels with efficiencies of 20%. It is expected to generate approximately 238 MWh of emissions-free electricity each year - the same amount of energy needed to produce approximately 28,000 cases of wine. This will save Watershed $79,000 in energy costs annually and offset electricity use by 30%.

Image credit: SunPower.

“Winemaking is an energy-intensive business, so installing a high-efficiency and cost-effective SunPower solar system will help lower our overall operating expenses while allowing us to produce finely crafted Australian wines with an even smaller carbon footprint,” said Watershed Managing Director Geoff Barrett. “With a SunPower system designed to produce clean, reliable electricity for the next 25 years or more, this was a low-risk investment that made both economic and environmental sense for us.”

Watershed owns the solar power system, which was installed by Sunwise Electrics, and will claim the associated large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) through to 2030. The winery expects to use solar energy produced by the system to offset electricity consumption from the local network when demand and energy prices are at their peak, especially during vintage.

“Wineries from around the world have chosen SunPower solar technology to reduce electricity costs including Domaine Carneros Winery in the United States, Glenelly Wine Estate in South Africa, Luciano Sandrone Winery in Italy and now Watershed Premium Wines in Australia,” said SunPower Country Managing Director, Australia Chris O’Brien.

Watershed has a commitment to environmentally responsible business practices, having already implemented initiatives to reduce water, raw material and energy consumption, improve wastewater management and install an energy-efficient refrigeration system