After six years of reducing our carbon footprint, we’re thrilled to announce that Jordan Vineyard & Winery is now powered by the sun. Stellar Energy just completed installation on a 454-Kilowatt solar-photovoltaic array on a steep hillside behind the winery. It consists of 1,932 modules composed of 100% American made equipment—quite uncommon in this country due to the higher cost of U.S.-manufactured products. The solar power generated is expected to offset our utility bill by 99% and save the winery nearly $4.9 million in electricity costs over the next 30 years. A web-based monitoring system allows us–and our customers–to see, in real time, Jordan’s environmental impact and solar energy produced/used.

We made the above video for Stellar to use in promoting its installation projects. The video includes time-lapse footage of the solar installation Lisa and Erin captured over the course of one month. A gallery of photographs captured during an aerial photo-video shoot with Sonoma Helicopters is also included below.

In a few weeks, we’ll release another video on our in-depth energy efficiency program. I’ll discuss a long road to energy independence and why we chose to focus on reducing our consumption first versus rushing to build a solar array back in 2006 when rebates and incentives became available. Read more about our road to energy efficiency in the 2011 edition of Estate Tales.

Time Lapse of Solar Array Installation: Part 1

Time Lapse of Solar Array Installation: Part 2

;

;