Treasury Wines goes solar at Barossa winery

The maker of Penfolds wines Treasury Wine Estates gone live with the largest winery solar installation in Australia at its Barossa Winery and Production Centre in South Australia.

Commissioned 12 months ago and now operational, there are almost 6,000 solar panels at the Barossa site alone, putting wines including Penfolds, Wynns, Squealing Pig and Pepperjack are on the way to meet the company’s target of being produced using 100 percent renewable electricity by the end of 2024.

The panels generate more than 5,500 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, the equivalent of powering 900 homes, complementing other systems already online across TWE’s Australian sites, including Coldstream Hills in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, Penfolds in Adelaide’s Magill, and Wynns in Coonawarra, South Australia.

Other solar PV systems are already operational, or scheduled to be completed in the coming year, at TWE sites in New Zealand, France, Italy, and the US.

Chief Supply & Sustainability Officer for TWE Kerrin Petty said installing solar panels was the most significant contribution the company could make to move closer to its ambition of net zero direct emissions.

“Our Napa Valley, California installation of 13,000 solar panels will make it the largest winery solar system in the US, generating half the electricity needs for each of our US wineries.

“It’s all part of TWE’s broader goal to make wine sustainably.”

TWE has taken other steps to cut its carbon footprint – in 2020 air conditioning and heating systems manufacturer Seeley International completed its largest-ever installation of its innovative indirect evaporative air conditioning system, the Climate Wizard.

In a unique development utilising indirect evaporative cooling, the Climate Wizard cools a massive 30,000 square metre wine barrel hall just opened Treasury Wine Estates at their Bilyara winery in the Barossa Valley.

Petty said next in line for the companyu were batteries and electric vehicle chargers for fleet, employees, and visitor cars.

TWE has also begin construction of a state-of-the-art, no and low alcohol production facility at the Barossa site, with the large-scale machine utilising proprietary processing technology expected to be operational in early 2024.

The 3-stage continuous wine de-alcoholisation system will operate under a vacuum, gently removing the alcohol content to less than 0.05 percent alcohol by volume.

The separation and collection of the wine’s delicate flavour compounds allows winemakers to reintroduce them to the dealcoholised wine at the end of the process, so the final product resembles the quality and characteristics of the original varietal as closely as possible.

Further reading:
Seeley International cools Treasury Wine’s Barossa expansion

Picture: Treasury Wine Estates