Renewable energy from the shoots of the Penedès vineyards

Spanish and European companies, wineries and rural development agents met on February 27 in the Barcelona municipality of Vilafranca del Penedès for a demonstration session of the European Agrobioheat project.

According to Manolis Karampinis, researcher at the Center for Research and Technology Hellas and coordinator of the Agrobioheat project, Vilafranca has been chosen as the venue for the third work meeting and these information days because it is a European reference in the energy recovery of shoots, whose model can be replicated in other places.

Karampinis offered data on the enormous potential of shoots as biofuel on the European continent and showed success stories from all over Europe. For her part, Laura Carbó, environmental technician at the Vilafranca city council, presented the successful local experiences that began with the VinyesxCalor project.

The event was attended by fifty participants, coming from different Autonomous Communities - such as Castilla y León, La Rioja, the Basque Country, Andalusia or Castilla-La Mancha - as well as from other European countries - Greece, Slovenia, Italy or Romania - where The vineyard area is important. Among them, representatives of wineries, cooperatives, engineering companies, boiler manufacturers and installers, energy agencies and local action groups attended these sessions.

How Vilafranca uses the energy of the vine shoots
The city council uses the pruning of the vineyards, from which the famous Penedès wine is obtained, to feed a biomass boiler that supplies a municipal heat network in the district of “La Girada ” . The network has been heating several municipal facilities since 2018. Currently, the Empresa Municipal d'Aigües de Vilafranca (EMAVSA) is in charge of managing the heat network.

Jordi Cuyàs, advisor at EMAVSA, explains that the company “transforms a product that was previously thrown away into useful heat for citizens, and at a lower price than gas.” Cuyàs was also the promoter of the VinyesxCalor project, thanks to which the municipality began to value vine shoots.

The supply of shoots to the heat network is carried out by the “La Granada” wine cooperative which, among other services to associated farmers, offers to collect the pruning of the vines for a lower cost than doing it individually.

The “La Girada” heat network has a 500 kW Heizomat biomass boiler powered exclusively by shoots to provide thermal energy to the connected public buildings.

Albert Casas, technician at the ISVED installation company, explained that the equipment is designed as standard to use various biofuels and only requires adjusting its operation to the specific agrobiomass, in this case, the shoot.

The boiler has a large combustion chamber, capable of working with low-density biomass that generates high ash contents - up to 8 times higher than that generated by fuels of forest origin - and can easily contain inappropriate substances, such as stones, sand, etc Emissions are within current legal limits.

In mechanized harvesting, the collector-shredder tractor demonstrated how it lifts the shoots arranged in lines along the farm, largely avoiding dragging stones or sand. It crushes them as it goes and when finished it discharges the crushed material to a truck.

According to Laura Carbó, the region has enormous potential, with a shoot production that ranges between 600 and 800 kg/Ha. At the moment, they only need to collect 400 hectares per year, but the objective is to continue installing more boilers and acting on more surface areas.

Visit to the Torres wineries
As a culmination of the day, the well-known Familia Torres wineries opened their doors and showed their modern facilities, including the 2.6 MW steam boiler that uses shoots and forest biomass to produce, above all, cold process.

Participants also had the opportunity to learn more about the sustainability project, Torres & Earth, launched by the company to reduce the environmental footprint of its wines and adapt to the challenges of climate change.

The city council of Vilafranca del Penedès has dedicated itself to facilitating the celebration of the conference with enthusiasm and professionalism. From the deputy mayor Aurelio Ruiz, who opened the day, to the international relations department, with councilor Xell Montserrat and her head of service, Carme Ribes. Also thank the support of Familia Torres and the Biomass Cluster of Catalonia.