STONE EDGE FARM MICROGRID

ESTATE VINEYARDS & WINERY

Picturesque boutique winery microgrid near San Francisco with multiple PV arrays, several battery chemistries, and hydrogen production.

Stone Edge Farm (SEF) is owned by a wealthy retired financial expert (https://sefmicrogrid.com/). This small (7 ha) winery in Sonoma CA showcases multiple mature and near-mature technologies. Its main loop is a 480 Vac 3-phase system with 7 points of common coupling to Pacific Gas and Electric distribution. Only two are routinely used, and in fact, the microgrid normally operates as an island, although it can synchronize and connect in about 5 s. Heila Technologies provides distributed control, and a microturbine provides emergency energy. At this good solar location, PV output averages 780 kWh/d in summer and 350 kWh/d in winter. Parallel Tesla and Simpliphi batteries are the swing resources, although banks using 5 chemistries are installed. A Giner electrolyzer was recently commissioned, and it supplies 3 hydrogen vehicles, and 3 x 26 kW fuel cells.