Winery to power production with solar panels

Tuesdays on the BottleBlog, we'll focus on interesting or exciting industry news from here in New Jersey, to the valleys of California, to the vineyards of New Zealand. Today's we're "Jersey Proud" as one of our home-state wineries makes efforts to Go Green.

Winery to power production with solar panels
by Todd McHale

SHAMONG, NJ - Valenzano Winery took another step toward going green on Wednesday.

The winery started construction of a new solar panel system at the vineyard off Route 206.

"It's nice to see this day come. We've been looking into doing this for about two or three years," Anthony Valenzano said after watching the first solar panel rack constructed on the 48-acre farm.

All told, more than 350 solar panels will be placed on about a quarter acre of the property in the coming weeks.

Valenzano, who owns the winery with his father and brother, said the solar panels are just the latest "going green" initiative the winery has undertaken. The winery also has installed a geothermal system for the facility's heating and cooling.

"We will eventually be using 100 percent renewable energy," Valenzano said.

On Wednesday, the Valenzanos joined the developer SolarSense of Radnor, Pa., the system's designer, installer and other business associates involved in the project to celebrate the occasion.

When complete, the $750,000 system will produce about 102,000 kilowatt hours annually.

The system ultimately will generate enough power for all the production, wine tasting and the banquet facilities at the 31,000-square-foot complex.

"Once it's up and running it's going to be good for the environment, because it's going to reduce the carbon emissions," Valenzano said. "It will also reduce our costs which we will pass on to our customers."

He added that he doesn't know of many businesses that have gone as far as the winery has in pursuit of harnessing renewable energy.

The project was developed by SolarSense, which paid for the system and put together a power purchase agreement.

During a short ceremony prior to construction of the first solar panel rack, Chris Fraga, founder and CEO of SolarSense, handed Valenzano an oversized check for $185,000, which is the estimated amount he expects the winery will receive in energy savings over the life of the 15-year agreement.

Opened in 1997, the Valenzano Winery has a network of farms in South Jersey that grow produce for their products, such as their famed cranberry wine.

The Valenzanos purchased the farm on Route 206 about four years ago. A year later, the owners began expansion of the facility in order to provide entertainment space and a tasting room larger than any other in the state. Today, the facility is a state of the art winery with kitchen facilities for serving light fare and catered foods, behind-the-bar wine rack with a 2,500-bottle capacity and a production facility that produces more than 68,000 gallons a year.

This article originally appeared on Phillyburbs.com on April 7, 2011.