The De Bortoli winery in Griffith, NSW is now proud owner of the largest solar thermal plant on a winery in Australasia. Glistening in the sunshine is 3,000 Apricus solar tubes, plugged into 100 x Apricus AP30 manifolds that are pre-heating 12,000ltrs of storage for De Bortoli’s new state of the art bottling plant.

“De Bortoli Wines were looking to expand their bottling lines to keep up with increased demand.” said Bryan Moss, Commercial Manager at Apricus Australia.

“This was seen as an opportunity to not only increase efficiency of the production line, but also design the new plant with energy efficiency in mind to reduce their overall energy usage”. “…this included utilising wall and ceiling insulation, high efficiency HVAC, condensing boilers, a 230kw photovoltaic solar system and the 200kw Apricus solar thermal plant – the largest solar thermal plant on a winery in Australasia”.

De Bortoli’s state of the art solar thermal system utilises 3,000 Apricus evacuated tubes to preheat the condensing boilers to dramatically reduce their gas consumption.

“The Apricus evacuated tubes were a perfect fit for this application due to their built in frost protection (-15°C rating without glycol) and high temperature performance”. Continued Moss.

The collectors were mounted on a 37° pitch to maximise solar performance during the winter months.

De Bortoli’s commercial hot water system was not an “off the shelf” system – It was custom designed specifically to the bottling plants needs. S4B Studio, The Solar Project and Fletcher Plumbing Co. All played a crucial part in the success of this project.

“After commissioning, the system was powered on from 8am with a starting water temperature of 20°C. The system achieved 12,000 litres of storage at a temperature of 71°C by 3.30pm!”. Reported Paul Fletcher – Fletcher Plumbing Co.

“It was great to finally switch the Apricus system on, and have it work so well off the bat.” “We have installed a monitoring system and data logger and will be closely monitoring the output, and savings De Bortoli are making” continued Fletcher.

If you would like to enquire about installing an Apricus evacuated tube solar hot water system on your home or business call us on 1300 277 428 or click here to request a free solar hot water quote.

The Apricus solar hot water system consists of:

  • 100 x Apricus AP-30 Collectors
  • 100 x Apricus Cyclone Rated Pitching Frames
  • 3000 x Apricus Evacuated Tubes
  • 2 x Custom Made 6,000ltr Hot Water Storage Tanks

Contractor:
Fletcher Plumbing & Co.

Design and Consulting Services:
S4B Studio Sydney

Solar Photovoltaic Installation:
The Solar Project