Winegrape Vineyards and Winery Operations: Energy Efficiency/ Sustainability and Expansion

Southern California Edison (SCE) provides utility services to the greater southern California area. Vineyards and wineries exist throughout the region, and historical data suggests that that they largely do not utilize incentive programs offered by the utility. As the first phase in a larger study, the Irrigation Training & Research Center (ITRC), located at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, completed a characterization of the vineyard and winery sector as it pertains to energy and water usage in SCE’s service area, including the following major tasks: Identification of vineyard and winery demographics in SCE’s service area. Identification of sustainability and expansion issues in the vineyard and winery industry in California as they pertain to energy and water usage, and investigation of the extent to which the issues impact the industry. This includes an estimation of energy and water usage by the wine industry. Identification of currently utilized, currently under-utilized, and potential measures used by the industry and incentives offered by the utility (SCE) for energy and water conservation