Mudgee's Lowe Wines becomes Australia's largest winery to go off grid

A Mudgee winery has become the largest in Australia to operate its business entirely off the grid.

Lowe Wines operates its vineyard, winery, cellar door and restaurant on a solar and battery system. 

Director and chief winemaker David Lowe said high electricity costs and supply issues drove the move, which had been transformative for the business. 

"Before, I was actually managing the power usage. You couldn't turn an oven on or a fridge on without something else being turned off," he said.

"It was really a day-by-day, seven-day-a-week monitoring of our power usage, but the trouble was that I didn't know how much power we were using, I only knew when it was a problem."

Mr Lowe said the business was now cash positive when it came to its monthly power bill.

He said the off-grid system could withstand even the most strenuous events on site.

This included watering systems for crops, lights, considerable refrigeration, heating, crushing and processing equipment, large motors and dishwashers.

"We had a wedding for 160 people on Friday night. We had 130 on Saturday night. We also … had about 300 paying customers to visit us. The restaurant was full, our bases were loaded, and I tell you what, I loved it. I love this machine," Mr Lowe said. 

"We're not a small business — we employ 65 staff here, so we make this place work. It's a very, very important part of agritourism. 

"The future's very bright, but without power, the whole place would have shut down."

Mr Lowe said the off-grid system was the final piece of the puzzle.

"We have our own factory, we have our own food processing plant, we have our own winery, we have our own restaurant. Now we have our own energy source," he said.

"I feel like I'm in control. I feel like we're managing our own business. Before, we were captive."

Early challenges

It has not been an easy process, however. 

After first installing some solar panels a few years ago, Mr Lowe found his energy costs were still $9,000 a month. 

He eventually discovered that about 40 per cent of his panels had been installed incorrectly, and it was at that point that he decided to increase the number of panels to run off-grid.

Greg Todd, director of SPS Solar and Water in Mudgee, the company that installed Lowe Wines's off-grid system, said it was clear Mr Lowe was exasperated.

"For years, David had problems with insufficient power to the property, and he'd been told the answer to that was bigger poles and wires," Mr Todd said.

"More money spent and then still paying a power bill, so we came up with a solution to create a full off-grid system."

The system consists of 414 solar panels at 265kW, as well as 1.2MWh battery storage.

A common trend

Victoria University Victoria Energy Policy Centre director Bruce Mountain said more people were switching off the grid due to frustration with supply and rising electricity prices.

"The price of battery and solar has come down, and as a consequence, it's now economically attractive," he said.

"It started out just solar, and then it's become solar plus storage, and integrating solar plus storage and sometimes diesel backup is leading to individual customers going off-grid and often little micro-grids."

Professor Mountain said off-grid systems were immune to power outages caused by downed powerlines.

But he said up-front costs could turn some agricultural businesses off the option.

"They need to be able to ensure they have enough supply for sequences of dark days, possibly weeks in winter, and so they need to ensure they have adequate solar supply for that and then the power capacity in the backup battery," he said.

Mr Lowe said his biggest concern was his curious donkeys potentially damaging his solar panels. 

But a simple paddock move could be the solution. 

"I absolutely recommend this to anyone who's in agriculture … who's got lots of land, just to have the panels pointing in the right direction. And for me, the sun is still free," he said.