“It takes over 10 litres of milk to produce 1 kg of cheese;” says Marius Chiorean, Director General at De Colțești .“The process for this cheese starts with fresh cow’s milk, collected daily from local farms. After coagulation, cutting, pressing, and brining, the wheels are aged in controlled conditions, and manually cared for week after week – turned, rubbed, and monitored. The result is a complex, nutty, intensely aromatic cheese that truly reflects the landscape and patience behind it.”
The power of nature
De Colțești recently switched to solar power to ensure that their process can continue seamlessly, without power interruption, and to avoid the use of fossil fuels and a costly generator.
“We chose to invest in a solar power system with high-capacity storage from Victron because we needed independence, stability, and efficiency;” says Marius.
Their energy system employs 12 x Quattro inverter/chargers. Groups of three Quattro’s have been configured for three-phase output. Four sets of three 15 kVA inverter/chargers have been paralleled to provide 144 kW / 180 kVA inverter power and 2400A charging capacity.
Significant roofing area on their extensive factory facility, and a large site has allowed the installation of an extensive ground- and roof-mounted PV array capable of providing 500kWp. Surplus power can be fed back to the grid thanks to a significant utility-cable upgrade.
Uninterrupted remote power
Careful planning
“The project was carefully planned well in advance to minimise any impact on cheese production. The facility can’t operate without electricity for extended periods, and even slight fluctuations in room temperature can alter the composition and taste of the matured cheese worth hundreds of thousands of euros – so precision and continuity are critical.
“To ensure reliability, new grid cable were installed in parallel with the existing ones – providing a much-needed upgrade to the facility’s electrical infrastructure. This was especially important given the recent installation of a 500 kW solar system, which the previous grid connection would not have been able to support.
“To minimise disruption, switchover to the new system was carried out during a single night, one weekend. Teams worked simultaneously at both ends to connect the new Victron system to the national grid. The local electricity supplier was also involved, and once the Victron system was operational and no longer restricted by the previous setup, they replaced the existing transformer with a modern, higher-capacity model.”
Off-site system build
Credit also goes to the external team who assisted Project Manager Daniel Szomboti with this faultless operation – they were: Dumitrascu Vlad – Electrical Engineer at Schrack Technik; and Dragos Spataru – Storage engineer at Fabrica de Baterii
Victron Remote Management
Speaking about the new installation and the part it plays in De Colțești cheese production, Marius says: “The results have been excellent: since installation, our energy supply has been constant, we’ve reduced diesel generator use drastically, and we now have a resilient, smart energy system that fits our needs perfectly. For us, sustainability isn’t a trend – it’s part of our philosophy. We make natural cheeses using traditional methods, and we value local, responsible production. Using clean energy fits perfectly into this vision and helps us walk the talk when we say we care about the land, the animals, and the people behind each product.”
Our primary market is Romania to premium retail, specialty shops, and the catering industry – but we have growing interest from across Europe.
From this drone footage by Panouri Cluj we can see how solar energy is the natural solution for power supply – especially when you are located far from the mains power station:
