6-21 IAN Solar Powered Winery

 That little old winemaker me used to be an advertising slogan for Swiss Colony wines. There’s a new little old winemaker in Moscow Idaho who’s gone green and high tech. I’m David Sparks and I’ll tell you about him in a minute. Over the roof top of the Camas Prairie Winery is the state’s first solar winery installation to use rural development funds. Winery owners Sue and Stu Scott made a choice to reduce their carbon footprint by investing in a future of clean renewable energy. The Camas Prairie Winery is the only Idaho winery to receive a USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant.   The $90,000 project was partly funded by the 2008 REAP grant award, a federal tax credit, incentives from AVISTA- the regional utility-and the Scott’s investments. When the 5,000 watt REAP solar system went online in April of 2009, it powered 22% of the winery’s electrical needs.

 But the trailblazing Scott’s didn’t stop there. In December 2009 he added another 3,500 watt solar array in Downtown Moscow. Winemaker Scott says the system is working flawlessly and provides a significant amount of his power.  “My belief and now my experience is that being green and being a good business person are mutually supportive, not mutually exclusive. I have done some things with the support of the government and our local utility Avista that are very green and very good business.”