Energy storage system for winery

With a growing concern over power usage and availability, and a push to gain reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, Cristopia's Australian agents Thermal Energy Storage Technologies (Australia) has won the right to install an Ice Storage System at St Hallet Winery, a part of the Lion Nathan Group, located at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.

The project will offer many advantages to St Hallett. The winery will be able to run the refrigeration plant at night, on off peak power rates. This will result in substantial savings. Switching power to night-time use will allow the daytime power kVA demand to be reduced with further costs savings.

In the event of any power curtailment, particularly during the extreme hot summer days and when crushing of grapes could be occurring, the company will not be affected and work can continue unabated.

The installation will provide an increased volume of brine which will both assist with catering for existing brine demand and provide a surplus to cope with additional crushing load as the winery expands. The brine will be at the desired temperature for the full discharge period from the storage tank and will not be subject to wide temperature swings as in other open brine systems.

Reducing simultaneous daytime electrical power demand will obviate the need to increase the incoming electrical power infrastructure which would be needed to cope with possible winery expansion and additional grape crushing loads.

The Ice Thermal Energy storage tank and the encapsulated nodules stored in it form a static piece of equipment which does not require maintenance.

The system has a projected 30- to 40-year life expectancy, and cost savings will continue to accrue for St Hallet long after the capital costs of the installation have been recouped.

From an environmental standpoint, the night-time plant running and the operational performance of the refrigeration plant will contribute a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.