Napa's Kendall-Jackson Wines Becomes Early Adopter Of Tesla Battery

NAPA (CBS SF) - Your next bottle of chardonnay may have a much smaller environmental footprint after the makers of the Kendall-Jackson label jumped on board with the latest green invention from Tesla.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a plan Thursday for the company's batteries to store solar electricity, potentially allowing businesses and individuals to get off of the grid by using renewable energy.

"As a result of this program, Kendall-Jackson has collaborated with Tesla Energy to installed 21 battery systems across 6 of our wineries in Sonoma, Napa and Monterey Counties. These systems have the capacity to hold a combined 4.2 MW of energy, which will allow us to mitigate for our most energy-intensive practices in wine production: refrigeration/cooling, lighting, compressed air, and process water treatment," the company wrote in a blog posting announcing the move.

"Tesla Energy that shares our commitment to innovation and sustainable energy management. The basis of the collaboration is two-fold: to pilot innovative technologies that reduce our natural resource consumption, and to invest in cost-saving initiatives that demonstrate a competitive return on investment," the post continues.

Musk, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Motors, hopes to park hundreds of millions of the large, solar panel-connected batteries in homes and businesses so the world can disconnect from power plants — and he can profit.

The battery, called "Powerwall," will be sold to regular consumers at a suggested price of $3,000 to cost $3,500 apiece, depending on the capacity.

In:
• Wine
• Tesla
• Elon Musk
• Napa