We help make the agri-food industry more sustainable and competitive
The agri-food industry has enormous potential to capitalize on local renewable resources and implement improvements that enable it to reduce its emissions. From harnessing the sun to produce photovoltaic energy, or wind to produce small-scale wind energy, to reusing slurry and other waste. The goal is to achieve maximum savings in an environmentally responsible way: implementing sustainable farming techniques, renewable energies, and the circular economy.
We specialise in:
The wine sector has enormous potential to reduce its emissions and become more sustainable. Several scientific studies agree that the main sources of emissions from vineyards and wineries are bottles and their distribution, the use of fertilizers in vineyard management, and energy consumption.
The main energy consumption in wineries corresponds to the refrigeration of tanks and the air conditioning of rooms. However, there are many other significant sources of consumption, such as pumping, machinery, offices, etc. The corresponding energy demand is highly seasonal.
There are various options for reducing energy costs and associated emissions: from measures aimed at improving energy efficiency (improving thermal insulation, low-energy lighting, replacing machinery, etc.), to including renewable energy generation for self-consumption, to bioclimatic architecture techniques.
A detailed study of the energy needs of the winery and vineyard, the costs of energy consumed, and the renewable resources available can lead to optimal energy use, with the associated savings.
Pumping and irrigation installations are often large consumers of electrical energy, whether for extraction, lifting, pressure boosting or pumping water to irrigation systems. Demand tends to have a strongly seasonal profile, usually coinciding with the months of highest solar radiation. This fits perfectly with the possibility of harnessing photovoltaic energy.
There are different types of irrigation:
-
Direct solar irrigation/pumping: when there is a pond where the pumped water can be stored or when irrigation always coincides with maximum solar radiation. In this case, the customer can assume that at certain times or on certain days it will not be possible to irrigate due to a lack of solar resources.
-
Self-consumption for irrigation: when energy is required all the time and irrigation cannot be interrupted. In this case, irrigation does not always have to coincide with the sun. In this modality, it is recommended that the photovoltaic system is supported by batteries or is hybridised with a generator set to provide energy at all necessary times.
Farms and other agricultural facilities generally consume electricity to heat the facilities, power feeders, etc. The installation of photovoltaic systems for self-consumption helps to alleviate this energy demand with a consequent saving in electricity bills (for installations connected to the electricity grid) or in fossil fuels such as diesel (for installations with generators).
In any case, it is necessary to analyse the demand, evaluate the solar resource and the available space and size the most suitable photovoltaic installation. A fattening pig farm is not the same as a breeding pig farm or a poultry farm.
Industrial buildings or facilities of any kind located in rural areas have a high potential for harnessing indigenous renewable resources to generate their own energy. If there is electricity consumption, this energy can be used to meet the facility’s own demand. If there is a surplus, it can be sold to the electricity grid.
In any case, it is necessary to analyse the demand and needs of each particular case, evaluate the renewable resource and the available space and size the most appropriate installation.
