North Carolina is slowly building a very respectable wine country, located predominantly in the Yadkin valley north of Charlotte. We recently had the chance to pay an educational visit to RayLen vineyards based out of Mocksville. GT has always seen vineyards as much more than wine, energy environments if you will and RayLen is another winery backing that up, with an awesome solar install. Check out the video below for a quick look. Note: the muscadine (seeds) at the beginning is an indigenous grape to NC, which reportedly has up to 5 times as much resveratrol as other red grapes.

My facts aren’t quite right in the video. Click below to get the full spec on their setup.

It turns out they’re currently generating about 30% of their energy needs from the solar install. However, they plan to keep installing until they are at 100% and beyond. Interestingly enough, Steve Shepard, the RayLen vitner, told us the cost of the installation was approximately $70,000, but they received a $40,000 tax credit from the government. Furthermore, the energy that they sell back to the local utility company pays approximately $0.28/kWh, whereas they only pay $0.09/kWh for what they use. That seems like a promising deal, and if they continue, they could potentially have a ‘rivaling revenue source’ to the incredible juice that they produce and sell. I highly recommend tasting the Eagle’s Select and the Carolinius (both red blends) if you get a chance to visit.

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