Solar a no-brainer for winery

Yealands winery (Newshub.)
Yealands winery (Newshub.)

A Marlborough winery is now home to the country's largest solar power system.

Yealands Wine Group has had 1314 solar panels installed across the roof of its Seaview Vineyard - enough to power 86 homes.

It's another sustainable step for its founder Peter Yealands, the world's most sustainable wine producer.

He hopes it will encourage other wineries to consider solar energy.

"I didn't need to be convinced it was a good idea, it was a no-brainer," he says.

It's a $900,000 solar system but Yealands didn't have to pay for the installation.

The system's owned by the company PowerSmart under a power purchase agreement; it on sells the electricity to Yealands at a fixed price.

"It's also a benefit to him not having to put that capital into the solar but yet get the benefits from the solar for the cost of electricity plus the sustainability benefits," says PowerSmart general manager, Rogier Simons.

The system will generate 33 percent of the winery's required power.

Newshub.