Date: May 30, 2008 @ 3:50 AM

What floats?

“Ducks” and “rocks…little rocks” were the right answers to that question…if you know the proper scene in Monty Python’s The Holy Grail.

It turns out that electricity can float, too. At least it can float on top of our pond.

Ever since James Bond zapped the bad guy by tossing an appliance into the tub, surveyed the scene and uttered his classic line, “shocking,” I have understood that voltage and water were a bad combination.

But, here we are in 2008 with Far Niente making headlines because of its innovative combination of solar panels and water that we have christened, “Floatovoltaics.” (I am not sure what happens if you try to say that three times fast.)

Nearly 1,000 Floatovoltaic solar panels are secured onto pontoons that float on the irrigation pond in Far Niente’s Martin Stelling Vineyard.

How did we end up with floatovoltaics? It was a long journey but the short version is that Larry Maguire educated the partners of Far Niente and our sister winery Nickel & Nickel to believe that the need for renewable energy is compelling for all and it was time for us to get on with it.

Far Niente is now offsetting all of its electricity costs with solar power. It doesn’t come cheaply or easily but we have determined the source (the sun) and the cost of our electricity for the next twenty five years or longer. Where to put it, was the big question.  We needed a spot for about 2000 solar panels and we didn’t have a big roof. We didn’t want to take out vineyard because we need these grapes to make our wine.  The vineyard pond is where we recycle our winery water. It provides the water for irrigation and frost protection.  Most importantly for solar panels; it is wide open for gathering sunshine.

Greg, the Dolce winemaker, and closet engineer, worked with a team who explored the possibilities before settling on a system that floats about 1000 panels on pontoons. It is cool (literally.) It turns out that not only are we making bunches of electricity (I don’t know an ohm from a volt or an amp…trust me, it makes bunches of power because I have seen Greg’s computer link to the system.) All the panels shade enough of the pond that we think it will help the pond ecology and will reduce evaporation of the water we are trying to conserve.

To read more, you can see what the San Francisco Chronicle had to say, "Winery goes solar with Floatovoltaics." (We liked that it ended up on the front page over the story on Scott McClellan’s book! It was sweet that the article came out the same day that we were able to share a tour of the Floatovoltaics with fellow vintners and interested members of press.

In the meantime, if you are particularly interested in innovation in energy efficiency and ideas about renewable power, try looking at some of what Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute is saying.

Even though we have embraced the concept that it floats, I still tend to believe in never mixing electricity and water.