Pernod Ricard wineries in Barossa Valley totally renewable powered with more than 10,300 solar panels
Pernod Ricard Winemakers operations director Australia Robert Taddeo (left) and chief operations officer Brett McKinnon with part of the company's solar panels array in the Barossa Valley.
Image by Ben McPherson.
More than 10,300 solar panels across Pernod Ricard’s two Barossa Valley wineries have made it the first major wine company in Australia in 2019 to source all its electricity from renewables, with a predicted annual generation of 4,000 megawatt-hours.
Energy company AGL installed the first 1MW stage of the company’s 2.8MW solar installation its Rowland Flat winery in 2018. In that year, Pernod Ricard Winemakers last year also became the first wine company in South Australia to be connected to offsite wind and solar farms when it signed a landmark 10-year virtual generation agreement) with wholesale electricity retailer Flow Power. It meant all the rest of the business’ annual electricity requirements would be met by solar and wind.
The French company’s major Australian wine brands include Jacob’s Creek, Wyndham Estate and St Hugo. Other Pernod Ricard sustainability projects in South Australia include the restoration of Jacob’s Creek, recycling programs across all Barossa sites and the expansion of its Centenary Hill Vineyard Dam to provide a reliable water source.
It was also partnering with South Australian company Glaciem Cooling Technology to install a thermal battery and smart control system to an existing ammonia cooling system at its Rowland Flat site. The system will be used for process cooling and will be powered by the 2.8MW solar PV installation.
South Australia’s Barossa Valley is Australia’s leading premium wine producing regions and is also home to iconic brands such as Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Rockford and Yalumba. Yalumba was a pioneer in the use of solar renewables. South Australia produces about half of Australia’s wine and 80% of its premium wine. Other major wine regions in the state include McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra and Langhorne Creek.
