Published on
The Enomaq Excellence Awards, organised in the framework of the International Machinery and Equipment Show for Wineries and the Bottling Industry, have distinguished –with a Prize for Sustainability– the LIFE Rewind programme, an initiative implemented at the Viñas del Vero wineries, which promotes the profitable use of renewable energies and demonstrates their sustainability in the wine sector from the technical, environmental and economic points of view. With this distinction, the jury has wanted to recognise Viñas del Vero's commitment to the promotion of sustainable practices in different winemaking processes and its participation in nationwide and European projects that aim to improve the wine-growing sector’s impact in regions and their environments.
Life Rewind at Viñas del Vero
For the implementation of this initiative, part of the LIFE programme of the European Union, Viñas del Vero has installed three 44kw –installed power– photovoltaic fields. One of the fields is placed on the ground, another one on a pole together with a tracker and the last one –which stands out for its innovative nature– on the water slide of the treatment pond of the wineries. The energy produced –up to 75,000 kw/year– moves the mechanisms necessary to operate the wastewater treatment plant in isolated mode (disconnected from the grid), as well as the irrigation systems of nearby vineyards. In this way, the winery, which had already completed its water cycle with the installation of a water purifier and the reuse of water for the irrigation of vineyards, culminates its second cycle, the energy cycle.
This progress allows Viñas del Vero to move towards a third cycle: mobility and transportation. The most innovative element of this initiative is the sustainable generation of hydrogen (gas) through the so-called water hydrolysis technique, which is operated by the surplus generated by renewable energy. The hydrogen obtained allows to propel an agricultural prototype, the germ of a future hydrogen tractor, through the small hydrogen station implemented for the project, one of the few in its category in Spain. Aragon is a pioneer in applied hydrogen technology for agricultural purposes, with an important industrial cluster established around the applications in this field.
About the Enomaq Excellence Awards
The Enomaq Excellence Awards aim to recognize the work carried out by companies in the Iberian Peninsula to promote this sector, namely through their commitment to innovation, technological development and environmental care. Sponsored by Feria de Zaragoza, the awards ceremony took place in the course of the 23rd edition of the International Machinery and Equipment Show for Wineries and the Bottling Industry.