A Microgrid in California’s Wine Country Keeps the Lights On, and the Tourists Coming

Thinking of a winery in California’s beautiful Napa Valley conjures up visions of grape vines, wine barrels and tourists, but most people would never think of a microgrid being part of that vision. Yet, running in the background at Castello di Amorosa Winery is exactly that, a microgrid with the DEIF AGC 150 controller playing a critical role in its functionality.  Providing confidence and reassurance, the microgrid has become an essential system in their wine making process.

“When we have a power outage, the power from the castle comes from the battery and the solar system, and then if the batteries become discharged beyond a certain point, the generator will come online to get the batteries back to their pre-determined rate,” says David Stringer, senior business development manager for DEIF. “The AGC 150 controller is a very important part of the system because without it, if the batteries went down and the sun wasn’t shining, there would be no power during a PG&E outage.”

Ironically when the microgrid was initially installed, the microgrid faced its first real challenge. “Literally some twenty-four hours after we installed the system, it got one of the harshest tests you could do, with power outages thirteen times over four hours,” says Mark Crowdis, CEO of 127 Energy. “With any power electronics, that can be a real challenge. But within that four-hour period the system went off and turned back on, multiple times, and operated exactly the way it was supposed to.”

With longer and more frequent grid outages, the solar and battery storage system reduces overall fuel costs. As a bonus, the onsite power technology optimizes the microgrid when the microgrid is not providing backup power to the winery, thus reducing power usage during peak-rate times, saving on the facility’s utility bills every month.

Likely the biggest benefactors of such an autonomous system are the facilities personnel. “I sleep easier at night knowing that when the power goes out, the DEIF controller sends the info to the Ageto controller, and the information is sent to my email, saying something happened on the contactor, that we lost power, and knowing we actually had a power outage,” Timothy explains. “It is just more knowledge, more availability of data, and it’s easier to make decisions going forward on what we need, what our power usage is, at what location, and what we need to do to mitigate power issues.”

Timothy gives DEIF a thumbs-up. “They’ve been here the whole time, through the whole process. They had their own challenges with our generator in getting things set up, but they didn’t give up, they just kept on going through it. I would certainly recommend DEIF.”