Making wine sustainably in South Australia

South Australian wine producer Taylors Wines has relied on 270 solar panels installed by ZEN Energy to sustainably power its Clare Valley winery.

The solar panels have been installed on the roof of the company’s Jaraman cellars and will generate a total of 136,000 kWh per year. This represents about 25% of the cellar’s energy requirements and thus a substantial 70-tonne reduction of CO₂ emissions annually. With electricity being a major operating and production cost, the investment will pay for itself after running for just over three years.

“The sun is one of our most plentiful resources in the Clare Valley, and one that helps Australia produce such flavourful wines. Harnessing this powerful resource to generate much needed energy for the winemaking process is essential for us as we set to achieve the ambitious emissions reduction targets we’ve set in line with the Paris Agreement,” Managing Director Mitchell Taylor said.

The winery has been working to lower its carbon impact and aims to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions (that is those from production and energy use, respectively) by 50% come 2030 and is also looking to decrease its scope 3, or indirect, emissions, all in line with the Science Based Targets initiative.

Additionally, the winery has been certified with Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, an organisation that hopes to reduce the environmental impacts of winegrowing through the use of certification and development of best practices.

“Working on the land, you see the drastic impact climate-related events can have on the wines we make, and without bold action, we as an industry will be faced with even more challenges in the near future. We see these actions as vital steps towards a greener future for our industry and hope it inspires others to take action, too.”