Same Sun of Vermont adds branded rooftop solar array to whiskey distillery

Same Sun of Vermont has deployed Enphase microinverters on a 56.2-kW_DC commercial solar system for WhistlePig Rye Whiskey, a Vermont-based craft whiskey maker.

WhistlePig’s distillery is situated on a 500-acre former dairy farm in Shoreham, Vermont. For this commercial solar project, Same Sun used 173 Enphase IQ 7X microinverters across the distiller’s warehouse building and bottling plant. The array features a unique SolarSkin module wrap from Sistine Solar to showcase the WhistlePig name superimposed on rows of whiskey barrels when viewed from above. Same Sun chose high-efficiency Enphase microinverters to mitigate the approximately 20% loss in kWh production caused by shading variations of the module coverings.

“We used Enphase IQ 7X microinverters in the WhistlePig arrays to ensure maximum reliability, heat tolerance and redundancy to mitigate the impact from any output variations this beautiful system might have,” said Philip Allen, co-founder at Same Sun. “Enphase inverters allowed us to quickly design and deploy this commercial solar system without the string sizing restrictions inherent to other inverter technologies. The Enphase Enlighten monitoring platform also provides in-depth performance monitoring via a kiosk-style display, so employees and visitors can see the impact solar has for WhistlePig Whiskey.”

“Our whiskey-making process relies on natural resources from our Farm and the surrounding land, and we are fiercely dedicated to taking care of this ecosystem,” says Jeff Kozak, CEO of WhistlePig Whiskey. “Vermont’s climate makes it the perfect resting place for barrels that have been aging up to 18 years, and Farm grains as well as local water, yeast and estate oak are the ingredients for our Farm to glass whiskeys. To minimize our environmental impact, we use concepts like adaptive reuse of buildings as well as solar energy. The solar system Same Sun of Vermont developed and installed for us not only looks great from above, but it also allows us to reduce our CO2 emissions and dependence on non-sustainable energy.”

News item from Enphase Energy