Harnessing the Power of the Sun in Paso Robles

Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery

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Going Solar at Pomar Junction

Paso Robles Vineyard and Winery Embraces Renewable Energy With USDA Grant

Fall, 2012 (Templeton, CA) – Last July, Dana Merrill of Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery, received word that his project to install solar panels at the winery had been selected to receive grant funds from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) which is authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. Pomar Junction is one of 450 projects nationwide to be supported by the program, which helps agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy consumption and costs and use renewable energy technologies in their operation.

The decision to go solar was a simple one for Merrill, after having seen how his son and Pomar Junction General Manager, Matt Merrill, slashed his home electricity bills with solar energy. “Matt was the first to install solar panels at home,” he recalled. Matt’s father Dana also recently added solar “At my house, I had been paying something like four-hundred to eight-hundred dollars per month for five acres’ worth of electricity, but after going solar, my bill is now five dollars a month. I knew that if I could save that much at home, it only made sense to go solar on a bigger scale at the winery, too. We have now had a year’s worth of electricity at our new facility so we now know exactly how much solar electricity we need to generate to offset the wineries usage.”

It was REC Solar that Merrill and the Pomar Junction team hired to install the panels, and which ultimately suggested that the winery apply for REAP funds. “REC Solar does very, very nice work, and is extremely knowledgeable about funds available to support businesses looking to go solar,” said Merrill.

Energy efficiency had already been of paramount importance at Pomar Junction, whose main energy expenditure is running the chiller that keeps the warehouses cool where the wine and barrels are stored. In fact, those critical buildings had already been outfitted with a passive cooling system wherein louvers at the top and base of the building were automated to open and circulate cool air once the temperature dropped below 65˚. “The passive cooling system covered about sixty percent of our cooling needs at the time,” Merrill said. “But in really hot weather, it could cost up to twenty-five-hundred dollars more per month to keep the buildings at a reasonable temperature for wine storage.”

By tapping into the grid, banking solar energy during cooler months and then spending that credit on energy throughout the hotter months, Merrill and the Pomar Junction team expect to save thousands upon thousands of dollars over the course of the year. “Once you see one or two bills, it’s hard not to understand solar’s appeal,” he said.

The newly-installed solar panels – which lie out of view atop two barrel stores on the winery property – are just one more measure that Pomar Junction has taken in pursuing sustainability and efficiency. As a charter member of the Central Coast Vineyard Team and one of the first wineries to be SIP-certified (Sustainability In Practice), Pomar Junction’s addition of renewable energy to its arsenal of measurable practices makes sense.

Owned and operated by the Merrill Family in the Paso Robles AVA, Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery showcases eight generations of Central Coast farming through deeply characterful estate wines. With a rich heritage of sustainable practices in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the cellar, Pomar Junction guides estate fruit from vine to glass with a narrow focus on purity of flavor and varietal integrity. The winery name refers to the Merrill Family’s concurrent lineage of railroad engineers as well as to bygone days when the Southern Pacific Railroad was responsible for the development of the picturesque Central Coast. For more information about Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery, call (805) 238

-9944, or visit www.PomarJunction.com. The Pomar Junction vineyard and tasting room are located at 5036 S. El Pomar Road in Templeton, CA 93465 XXX

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL, PARKER SANPEI PUBLIC RELATIONS805.543.2288

Jen@ParkerSanpei.com