The Vergelegen wine estate in Somerset West has announced its hilltop winery has gone completely off the grid as Eskom continues to struggle to supply electricity reliably to South Africans.
The hilltop winery has deployed 500 solar panels, ensuring it can continue operating without any grid-supplied electricity.
This investment involved installing six solar “tables”, housing the 500 panels and covering a 1 400m².
“In addition to the panels, the winery has installed three inverters and a 1MWh battery. This will ensure that the cellar can still run on the battery during harvesting, even if there is no sun,” the wine estate explained.
“The difference in carbon emissions will be determined over time, but the entire electricity bill for the cellar will be saved as the cellar will run 100% off the solar plant,” said Vergelegen environmental project manager Eben Olderwagen in a statement. “There will also be the diesel cost saving and no emissions from the generator during load shedding.”
Solar energy produced but not used by the cellar will be pushed into the grid and be credited on the rest of the site’s account, resulting in money saving on electricity bills for the entire estate, he said.
The installation was done by LRG Solar. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media
- This article has been updated to reflect the fact that it was the winery, and not the entire Vergelegen estate, that has gone off-grid