GREENFIELD — A new wind turbine with blades reaching nearly 400 feet into the sky was erected last week at Scheid Vineyards, where the machine will generate 100 percent of the power needed to run the winery and bottling operations four miles south of Greenfield.
Located a quarter-mile west of Highway 101, the wind turbine can be seen for miles. Its tower stands 264 feet tall with three propeller-like blades, each 132 feet long, for a total height of 396 feet above ground.
According to the winery, the blades rotate about 22 revolutions per minute and will annually produce 185 megawatts of electricity, enough to power the entire facility. The wind turbine is scheduled to be fully operational at the end of August.
“We have always been committed to sustainability,” said Scott Scheid, president and CEO of Scheid Vineyards, in a news release. “All 4,000 acres of our estate vineyards in Monterey County are officially certified by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.”
Scheid said all the facility’s wastewater is recycled and its grape must is composted and spread as nutrition in the vineyards. The winery also uses a drip irrigation system in addition to low-impact farming methods, and it even placed more than 250 owl boxes to control rodent populations naturally.
“Installing this wind turbine is yet another facet of our desire to be good stewards of the environment,” he said.
