Wiston Estate in West Sussex has installed a 50kWp solar array to help generate renewable energy for its winery.
The estate is owned by the Goring family who are concerned with the sustainability and conservation of their land. As a result, the installation of solar will mark just the first step in a wider journey towards reducing the estate’s carbon footprint and environmental impact.
Richard Goring spoke of his ambitious environmental plans, commenting: “The winery is a new venture, built and developed in 2008, and we are excited that this enables us to be a more sustainable wine producer going forward. The vision for Wiston Estate wine has always been to work with nature and this strongly follows that line of thinking.”
The estate’s grain store roof provided the perfect platform for installer Southern Renewables to fit the required 200 solar panels. It is estimated that the 50kWp array will provide the estate with energy bill savings in excess of £300,000 over the next 25 years.
Bradley Carr, Managing Director at Southern Renewables said: “Working with the Wiston Estate has been a real pleasure from start to finish. Not only due to the overall beauty of the estate but primarily because of the progressive, forward thinking and positive outlook of the landowners.
“The team here at Southern Renewables has been dedicated to providing a high quality installation within a tight timescale and budget. This project adds to our constantly expanding commercial portfolio and we continue to deliver on our promise of the provision of expert design and project delivery at a competitive price.”
The solar system fitted at the estate should help the winery save 561 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere whilst also earning the estate over £200,000 in feed-in tariff income over 25 years.