Posted by
Aaron McLucas on Saturday, May 31, 2008 10:52:16 AM
The Far Niente (Italian for 'without a care') winery in Napa Vally had decided to
invest long term and power their winery with solar panels.
"I was nervous about making this presentation to my partners because it's a lot of money and could be used to purchase a vineyard," said Larry McGuire, president of the winery. "If you're just trying to deal with profitability, certainly short-term profitability, you probably wouldn't make this decision. But if you're thinking about long-term profitability - and with a social conscience - that's where you'll probably come to the conclusion that this is a good thing.
With 994 solar panels mounted in two different locations at a cost of $4.2 million dollars, it is definitly a long term investment.
But further in the article, you read how creative they had to get to make this thing even happen.
"There were so many opportunities to throw in the towel because of technical complexities, regulatory hurdles and runaway costs," said Allen, a MIT-trained engineer. "We started out with a goal, and every hurdle was an opportunity to find a creative solution."
Creative financing and a leaseback agreement also contributed to the project's feasibility. The five winery partners received an almost $2 million cash rebate from PG&E for solar projects at Far Niente winery and its sister winery, Nickel & Nickel; they also received a federal tax credit and accelerated appreciation. Nickel & Nickel's $3 million array uses land-mounted solar panels only.
Bank of America Leasing & Capital LLC ended up purchasing Far Niente's solar units, which the winery leases and has a buyback option after seven years.
Fortunatly for them they had a pond to mount the panels over, most solar buyers have to sacrifice property.
The team considered building a huge carport over the irrigation and wastewater recycling pond as a firm foundation to mount solar panels; designing steel or aluminum trusses to span the 16-foot-deep pond from bank to bank and attach the solar panels to it; or creating a cable suspension system to support the panels. The solution at Far Niente consisted of Sharp solar panels - each measuring 3 by 5 feet and producing 208 watts - mounted on foam-filled pontoons made of plastic, ribbed drain pipe that's commonly used in the vineyard.
So, Far Niente has roughly a half an acre of property tied up in solar panels at $4.2 million. They lease the panels with a buy-back-option and got rebates of $2 million from the electric company. Not a bad deal all in all, yet there is no mention of how affordable it is. Is it going to save them energy costs in the long run as well? That is not specified, but it really isn't about that now is it.
"All of us would like to see more private business taking a position to resolve our energy problems and global warming issues."
There you go. Easily done when you have the money to start with.