„Plantaze 13 Jul“ is a Montenegrin producer of grape, wines and grape brandy. They own the biggest contiguous vineyard in Europe – imagine a square with sides nearly 5 kilometers long. With roughly 650 employees, the firm produces annually around 25 million kilograms of grapes, peaches and olives, as well as 16 million bottles of wines, brandies and olive oil, exporting in over 40 countries worldwide.
Over the last five years the company experienced – like most of us – a great volatility in electricity prices. As Plantaze is the biggest electricity consumer in the country of Montenegro, the unpredictability of the energy costs is a serious problem. Secondly, 47% of the electricity consumed in Montenegro originates from coal-powered thermo-power-plant. Coal is also vastly used as a source for heating in households throughout the country but is associated with a high carbon footprint and environmental pollution. This isn’t ideal, when tourism and wine production is your business.
Having this situation in mind, Energy Scouts Tamara Jankovic, Djuro Djurisic and Balsa Kruscic, all three working in the electrical maintenance department of the company, came up with a bold and obvious idea: harvest the energy from the sun – and secure low energy costs over years to come.
At first, they analyzed the solar potential in the capital city area, where most of the company site is located. The result is very promising, with more than 1,500 kWh/m2 solar radiation, among the best on this latitude level in Europe.
Photovoltaics
- Industry Sector: Vineyard / grape, wine and grape brandy production
- Energy Source: Electricity
- Energy savings potential: 9,541 MWh/year
- CO2 savings potential: 4,494 tons/year
- Potential cost reduction: ~1,000,000 € /year
- Investment costs: 5,700,000 €
- Payback period: 5.7 years
- Company:
Plantaže 13 Jul AD Podgorica
Tuzi 81206, Montenegro,
https://www.plantaze.com/
Next step – find a suitable location
After the Energy Scouts discovered this amazing information, they started inspecting the land, in search for a spot that could be used to build a solar plant – preferably land that isn’t suitable for agricultural purposes.
Once they found a good location, they used the tool “PV Sol Premium 7.5” to gather further data on the alignment, the number and type of solar panels that can be used, as well as the total produced energy from the system. One spot could fit a big solar plant with an installed power of 3.25 MWpeak. In Addition, they want to use the large roofing construction of the Main Processing Facility and a second smaller piece of land around that facility, adding another 2.45 MWpeak. The total installed capacity would be 5.7 MWpeak , expecting to deliver 9,541 MWh per year. Compared to Plantaze’s total yearly consumption of 9,715 MWh, they realized this could cover 98% of the company’s electricity demand.
Implementing this project would save 4,559 tons of CO2 per year, as the electricity emission factor in Montenegro,0.471 tons of CO2 /MWh, is rather high. The financial side – the Energy Scouts calculated a necessary initial investment of roughly 5.7 million €, while the cost cutting potential is around 1.2 million € per year. The amortization time is approximately 5,7 years. Nowadays, photovoltaic systems have a life expectancy of 20-30 years.
Now, there are many people to be convincez, decisions to make and obstacles to overcome. Applying and receiving permits from the state and affirmations from all partners is part of the preparation process in which the Energy Scouts are highly involved. The sheer size of the project would have a significant impact on the country and could serve as a lighthouse project for other companies.
