Battling blackouts: The industry explores efficiency options

Wines & Vines, August, 2001 by Jennifer Rofe

With harvest underway and energy use at its highest, the threat of blackouts looms. And because grapes are one of California's largest and most perishable commodities, it is vital that wineries have sufficient energy through harvest. However, with no immediate solutions to California's energy crunch in sight, wineries must look for more efficient ways to battle the blackouts.

In June, the Wine Institute (W.I.)--steadily addressing the energy situation--held its 67th Annual Meeting of Members, which included an energy panel. Panel speakers, including R. Thomas Beach, the W.I.'s energy consultant, Commissioner Robert Pernell of the California Energy Commission (CEC) and Mike Tollstrup from the Air Resources Board, addressed the industry's concerns and offered conservation advice.

Sounding hopeful, Beach referred to another little-known California energy crisis. In 1989/90, California experienced a natural gas crisis, which, in trying to resolve the situation, led to a surplus of natural gas. He surmises that due to the tremendous rush to construct power plants in California, more plants than necessary will be built, leading to a decrease in energy prices.

Still, Beach, who has had an active energy consulting practice in California since 1989, stressed the need to conserve, while commending the positive steps California is taking toward beating the energy crisis. "The most hopeful sign is that people really are conserving energy in California," he said. "However, we have a long way for victory in the energy war," he added, noting that (as of June) there had not yet been a heat wave that hit the entire state. Beach also recommended investing in long-term strategy conservation.

However, at the W.I. meeting, some in the industry expressed concern about conservation strategies, such as revamping facilities, noting that there is no determined number of blackouts expected and not every district in California will be affected.

Commissioner Pernell pointed out that from a business perspective, investing in energy efficiency is a good investment, as it will reduce overall energy overhead (not to mention a positive investment in preserving the environment and resources), and he emphasized that the CEC is currently offering monetary support for conservation retrofits.

CEC Programs

In June, the CEC began accepting applications for the first come, first serve grants available for energy efficiency. At the W.I. meeting, Pernell discussed the grants available, noting the $850 million set aside for conservation programs. Programs include: the Solar Energy and Distributed Generation Program, which funds solar domestic water heating systems and distributed generation equipment that meet efficiency and environmental specifications; Renewable Energy Buydown, which funds photo-voltaics and solar thermal generating systems, small wind turbines (output [less than]10kW) and fuel cells using renewable fuels; Cool Savings Program, which provides incentives for cool roofing and building materials that reduce air conditioning load; and Innovative Peak Load Reduction Proposals Program, which offers a maximum of $4 million for proposed projects that reduce peak electricity demand at a minimum of 20 kilowatts (kW). There is also an agriculture program with up to $75 million available for assisting the agr iculture and food processing industries in reducing peak period electricity demand and energy use, although it does not fund backup generation.

"The idea is not to keep this money in the Commission; the idea is to get the money out to you," Pernell said, adding that he hopes consumers will view the programs as a market transformation and see the long-term benefits of conserving energy. "I see this as Californians stepping up to the plate and addressing the challenges before us." Pernell said he expects funding to last into next year. For more information, contact the CEC at (800) 555-7794 or visit the Web site energy.ca.gov/peakload.

TASCO Energy Solutions

Energy efficiency consultants, such as TASCO Energy Solutions, also exist to help lighten the electricity load and find solutions to maximize usage.

Theresa Sanders, president of TASCO, is an energy technologist by training, with a bachelor of science in energy technology. After graduating from Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. in 1983, Sanders spent five years on the U.S. Virgin Islands as a development engineer designing and installing energy-efficient projects for schools and hospitals. Today, by analyzing energy bills and existing equipment, Sanders advises commercial and industrial facilities, including wineries, on energy efficiency projects they can implement. Focusing mostly on air conditioning and industrial chillers, Sanders finds ways to reduce energy usage.

By installing a certain energy-efficiency technology on a split system, package-type system or an air-cooled chiller, Sanders can guarantee 20% savings, and for water-cooled chillers, savings are between 12% to 14%, substantial sums of money, considering that wineries can spend $50,000 a month on utility rates. "I install technologies that will increase the efficiency of their units and lower operating costs," Sanders says, explaining steps wineries can take to better understand energy usage. "The very first thing they need to do is pull out the last two years of their energy bills and look at the kilowatt hour usage. They can build a very simple spread-sheet by month; go back at least two years and look at seasonal variations. It's also important to look at kilowatt hour usage and dollar amount, and track it to get a picture of what energy usage is." By doing this, Sanders adds, wineries should recognize trends.