Andrew Peace Wines

The Challenge

The Solution

The Impact

The Challenge

Andrew Peace Wines is one of Australia’s largest family-owned wineries. They are committed to producing the highest quality products and improving their operational sustainability. The vineyard and winery operations use a considerable amount of water which is typically pumped from the Murray River and electricity supply for the pumping stations is often at the end of long supply feeders.

Andrew Peace Wines had an opportunity to source water from an artesian source on their land which would reduce their off take from the Murray River. This project involved building a water treatment plant that required a reliable power supply, which Andrew Peace Wines also wanted to make renewable.

An aerial photograph of solar panels and desalination plant at Andrew Peace Wines

The Solution

Acacia Energy, with expert support from our Engineering Procurement and Construction partner AEES Group, completed a detailed analysis of Andrew Peace Wines’ situation and developed a bespoke solution comprising:

1 MW of ground mount Solar PV, and
3 500kVA bio-diesel generators.

The 1MW solar system displaces electricity for daytime operations all year round and significantly reduces the amount of electricity drawn from the network.

The 3 500kVA bio-diesel generators provide power when supply from the electricity network is not available, ensuring that water is always available for operations.

The Impact

This solution drastically decreased the water-treatment plants energy consumption with 42% of the electricity used yearly replaced by the energy produced by the Acacia Energy renewable solution. Combining the impact for both the water-treatment plant and the winery renewable energy solutions finds that in its lifetime so far, over $710,00 has been saved from their electricity bill.

The project has reduced Andrew Peace Wines reliance on water from the river system and reliably delivered water for operations at a substantially lower cost.