Vincor Pomace to Power Greenhouse
Grape waste will yield methane gas to generate electricity
Wineries generate mountains of pomace with every vintage. Ontario's Vincor hopes three of its wineries will generate both electricity and revenue from theirs.Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario -- At this time of year, all wineries face a problem: What can we do with the pomace that the crush has generated? The answer often is to put it back into the vineyard or send it to a landfill. Vincor Canada in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, has come up with a different solution, one that will help the environment by providing an alternative energy source to another local company and contribute to the wine producer's bottom line.
Vincor plans to sell about 3,500 tonnes (about 3,858 U.S. tons) of pomace from its three Niagara-area wineries to Vandermeer Greenhouses in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Vandermeer will then use the grape residue to create electricity to heat its greenhouses.
Using a process known as anaerobic digestion, which breaks down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, Vandermeer will capture the methane gas that is produced by the decomposition of the grape pomace and use it to generate electricity. If there is excess after the needs of Vandermeer's greenhouse operations have been met, surplus electricity would be sold to the Ontario Hydro grid.
According to Jay Wright, president and CEO of Vincor, Bruce Nicholson, the senior winemaker at Inniskillin, decided in the interest of the environment to stop the practice of transporting pomace to a landfill by finding a way to convert the winemaking waste into clean electrical energy. He talked it over with Brad Wells, the engineer at Jackson-Triggs, who is also passionate about the environment, and the result was a one-year agreement with Vandermeer Greenhouses that starts with the 2008 harvest.
Wright declined to estimate the amount Vandermeer will pay Vincor. He did tell Wines & Vines, "We're working through that. I can tell you that it will be less than $100,000 and more than $10,000."
Wineries generating the pomace for the alternative energy project include Inniskillin Wines and Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery both in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Vincor Niagara Cellars in Niagara Falls. According to Wines & Vines' 2008 Annual Directory, these produce in excess of 250,000 cases of wine per year.
"We are very pleased that we're able in our small way to reduce our carbon footprint," Wright said. "This is not only a win for the environment, but it will result in significant cost savings for Vincor."