Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/619725
January 2016 WINES&VINES 113 CONSTRUCTION improvements and new technolo- gies," Brigham said. Solexel is manufacturing pan- els in Milpitas, Calif., with the goal of closing the gap. "The manufac- turing process uses less silicon, reducing the panel weight and cost," she said. "It turns out that the weight of PV systems can pre- vent many companies from install- ing rooftop solar." This generation of panels will supplement the existing 120 kW PV system on UC Davis' nearby Brewery Winery Food Lab Build- ing. "We will generate more en- ergy than the building uses. Excess energy will be stored in batteries or power other univer- sity buildings." The solar panels will charge 250 kW of Second-Life lithium-ion batteries donated by Nissan/4R Energy. "These batteries have reached the end of their useful lives in Nissan Leaf electric vehi- cles. By employing second-life bat- teries, we keep the used cells out of the waste stream and (if we were to have purchased them) ac- quire the needed energy storage at a significant cost savings. We will develop a commercial-level controller to manage the batteries and to optimize our output voltage and phase to improve grid stabil- ity," Brigham added. Separately, the project will generate hot water for the winery fermentor jackets and lab using a solar hot water system. "We also plan to develop a highly efficient, solar-powered ice machine that will provide the chilling for cold water. This cold water will be our sole source of fermentation cool- ing (no glycol). This project is likely to start in 2016." Erlichman of SunlightElectric cautions, however, that wineries have unusual power usage peak- ing at harvest, suggesting that lithium ion batteries aren't the optimum way to manage the peak usage periods. "Lithium-ion has some benefits in demand manage- ment, but other technologies might be even better, especially in conjunction with solar. We've been having ongoing discussions with a number of the larger producers but no implementation yet." Floating solar panels In 2008, Far Niente Winery in Napa Valley got substantial public- ity when it installed floating solar panels on irrigation ponds, using acreage that didn't subtract from valuable grapevines. Now the So- 877.959.5346 www.acousa.com ACO Drain PowerDrain ACO Drain is the USA's most specified commercial trench drain and the #1 global brand for all trench drain applications. In August 2015, Honig Vineyard & Winery added nearly 700 roof-mounted mod- ules to the ground-mounted photovoltaic system installed in August 2006.