NAPA WINERIES LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF THE SOLAR CURVE
Sunlight Electric leads solar power system installations for Calif.'s
sustainable food, beverage operations
by Sustainable Food News
November 19, 2007
Napa County wineries have adopted solar power 42 times
faster than California businesses overall.
That’s according to Rob Erlichman, president and CEO of
Sunlight Electric LLC, a solar power developer that
specializes in solutions for organic and sustainable food
and beverage companies in Northern California.
SE has installed more solar power systems for the regions
wineries than any other company by a factor of two.
“We are driving this trend,” Erlichman told Sustainable
Food News. And, considering California’s sun and high
electricity rates, “The interesting question for business
owners, [who seek] to control costs and reduce their
environmental footprint is ‘What’s going on in Napa that I
can learn from?’”
Erlichman, who is also founder of the San Franciscobased company, figures less than two-tenths of 1 percent
of the state's businesses have turned to solar power
compared to 7 percent of Napa wineries.
He draws the information used for his solar power
analysis from rates at which the state’s couple million
businesses and 800,000 non-farm businesses are adopting the alternative energy.
“We know 1,600 businesses have administered solar
power so far through people that claim rebates from
major utilities, which administer these programs,”
Erlichman said.
Since starting the business five years ago, Erlichman,
who also serves in an advisory role for Clean Energy
States Alliance, an association representing the clean
Sunlight Electric completed the solar power system
installation at Rutherford, Calif.-based Honig Winery
this spring.
energy funds of 16 U.S. states, said SE has been tracking
100 percent growth a year.
“This year we’ll do 400 percent,” he said but declined to
provide a sales figure
Given that the solar industry is relatively young – about
50 years old in California and the United States, “there
are a lot of foundational opportunities” for SE to capitalize on the growing demand for solar energy, Erlichman
said.
He said the company's first commercial project in Napa
Valley was with Frog’s Leap Winery, whose system went
up in Feb. 2005.
The list of the company’s clients has grown steadily, and
include: Staglin Family Vineyard; Honig Vineyard &
Winery; wine and olive producer Long Meadow Ranch;
artisan cheesemaker Cowgirl Creamery; and Star Route
Farms.
continued........
According to Erlichman, there are four main factors Napa
wineries, and other SE customers, have in common that
companies should consider.
First, wineries are the No. 2 power user in the entire food
industry, he said. “They use a lot of power when the rest
of the state also needs a lot of power, like during the
summer when it’s hot.”
To calculate energy use and needs, SE uses a proprietary
software model involving power usage and power
production hour by hour. The company said it figures out
how to arbitrage the best-rate plans from PG&E, its local
utility company.
Second, Erlichman said, is the desire to have a reasonably
healthy balance sheet.
“They (PG&E) offer rate plans that could be advantageous
to solar customers,” Erlichman said, explaining that SE
therefore adopts ”the rate plan that gives solargenerating utility customers more money for the power
they sell."
“The majority of our customers, and 13 of Napa’s wineries, pay for their solar panel systems with a commercial
loan,” he said. “More of our customers are taking out
loans – it even makes sense with the interest. You may be
paying 5 to 7 percent on a loan, but power costs are
going up 8 or 9 percent.”
Erlichman said the solar power systems can create
anywhere from 70-90 percent of customers’ electricity,
providing customers with an electricity bill that is drastically lower than it would be paying for 100 percent of
their kilowatt hours. In other words, customers essentially have no electric bill.
Erlichman said SE’s customers are no longer paying their
utility bills, but rather paying the bank all the subsidies,
which is resulting in them having more money than they
would otherwise.
For example, in modeling distribution for a produce
wholesaler on that of a beer distributor, which requires
keeping its beer at 40 degrees F, SE created “remarkable
savings for the produce wholesaler," he said.
The other option is leasing, he said, noting that while
there may be an increased interest in leasing, no one can
get a lease if they are losing money.
Erlichman also discussed retailers and restaurants that
are looking to offset 100 percent of their electricity. He
said these venues create a little more challenge for SE
because many are tenants, not owners, and the buildings
in which they operate are generally of greater density or
larger in size to enable multiple tenants.
SE works with Silicon Valley Bank, one of the state’s
biggest lenders.
Third, Erlichman said having branded and differentiated
products helps businesses and their consumers to
distinguish products from competition.
And fourth, he said, is a commitment to sustainability.
“We learned fascinating things that customers are doing
to reduce their impact on the land,” Erlichman said.
“Honig Winery uses dogs to sniff for bugs. Frog’s Leap
uses chickens on the vineyard to eat the bugs and their
drippings work as fertilizers. Sheep are also brought in to
chew down weeds in the vine rows.”
“These are creative people. [Sustainability is] the right
thing to do from a professional and personal perspective,” he continued.
In addition to wineries, working with organic farms and
dairies has increased the number of solar projects SE has
installed across the board.
The company recently completed an installation for
Cuvaison Wine Estates, has installed a system for Warren
Weber, who has been doing organic farming since 1974,
and is currently setting up a solar power system for
Clover Stornetta Farms Inc., a Sonoma County organic
and conventional rBST-free dairy company.