Wine and electricity: Solar power brings rich harvest

The small but distinguished Valpolicella wine-growing region east of Lake Garda in the province of Verona is known for its light wines as well as the deep red, full-bodied Amarone Cesari, which is one of the top Italian wines. One of the vineyards located here is the Cantina Gerardo Cesari in Fumane. The company was founded in 1936 and has been producing wines from the Valpolicella region since 1948. The continued success of the vineyard led to an expansion with a new winery in Fumane, which was inaugurated at the beginning of 2021. There, the grapes are dried for four to five months, the wines are aged, fermented and initially refined.

The new wine cellar was designed to blend harmoniously into the landscape, which is characterised by vineyards, olive groves, pine forests and orchards. Since Cantina Cesari is committed to the principles of tradition and sustainability, the plans from 2017 included the installation of a photovoltaic system for the production of solar power on the green flat roof of the new building from the outset.

In the Cantina Cesari project, the specific requirements for the fastening solution proved to be very demanding, for example fastening without holes, as little visibility as possible and low load on the building roof. “In view of these challenges, the fischer Solar-Wind II aluminium fastening system with 10° inclination was used, which enables installation on flat roofs and exploits the effects of air flows,” explains fischer expert Vittorio Roby. “Due to the design, the wind rolls over the system and thus increases the grip on the ground even in strong winds.” The weights required for ballasting, such as stone plates, are relatively light. “This reduces the risk of accidental damage to the roofing board. In addition, earthing is not carried out for each row of modules individually, but for entire subsystems, and the string cables are finally mounted suspended under the photovoltaic modules,” says Roby. Solar-Wind II is thus the intelligent flat roof installation system with ballast, optimised for maximum weight reduction. It consists of a few aluminium brackets and rails as well as the matching stainless steel screws and accessories. Fast installation requires only the first row to be aligned and fewer weights to be used on the roof. This makes it ideal for sensitive roof coverings with limited load-bearing capacity.

With the Solar-Fix range, the national company fischer Italia is operating very successfully on the market. Thanks to its expertise in the field of solar systems, it has developed a special position. “fischer Italia is the competence centre for the development of the range of fastenings for photovoltaic and solar thermal systems within the company group,” says Riccardo Frizzarin, product manager for the Solar-Fix programme. “The increasing focus on renewable and clean energy has meant that the Solar-Fix range has grown to more than 150 items, covering all applications, from small solar roofs in the private sector to large commercial systems,” emphasises Frizzarin. A high degree of innovation and high-quality materials, such as special aluminium alloys and stainless steel, ensured that the highest mechanical strength was achieved at the optimum weight. Frizzarin points out that the components of Solar-Fix carry the TÜV quality certificate, which is due to the strictly controlled production processes, the use of high-quality raw materials and the strict controls on the end product.