EDF Renewables North America was chosen by the award-winning sparkling wine company, Domaine Carneros, to design, build, and operate a resilient solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery energy storage microgrid solution.
The system supports Domaine Carneros’ long-term financial and sustainability goals and is designed to island the entire facility during a power outage.
The 250-kW solar PV system will be a combination of carport and ground-mount installations integrated with a 280 kW / 540 kWh onsite behind-the-meter battery storage solution. Along with its integrated smart electrical infrastructure and sophisticated controls, the microgrid system will allow the solar and storage to power the facility and maintain 100% of its operations during a power outage, reducing diesel fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as well as extend fuel reserves up to an entire week.
Wildfires, rolling blackouts and PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs, have made power unreliable throughout California, putting products and business operations at risk. Domaine Carneros is one of the first in the region to implement a microgrid solution that demonstrates a sophisticated approach of leveraging all available onsite assets to improve resilience and sustainability while also reducing costs during grid connected and power outage operations. The resilient solution is part of a portfolio of microgrid projects that EDF Renewables is deploying with public and private entities throughout California.
The solar portion of the project will reduce the facility’s utility provider energy cost, while the battery system optimizes operations by allowing the facility to draw from the stored energy during the utility’s expensive evening on-peak period. The energy storage system will also reduce utility costs by discharging the battery to mitigate spikes in usage thereby lowering demand charges. Meanwhile the microgrid system will reduce Domaine Carneros diesel fuel costs and avoid renting expensive backup generators for fire seasons. The system is projected to offset 624 metric tons of carbon each year.
