# hello everyone



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Well here we are settled into our new life here in Spain.

We have all our "paperwork" completed

Residencia - yes they call it Residencia here.

Padron

Healthcare - although we are waiting for the cards and the local GP is seeing me, but has nothing official yet, no-one appears worried, everything takes time they say, so I am not worried

Car - We have bought a car,

Dogs - We have two dogs - Border Collie and Mastin

We have Solar Power - and it did not cost anything like the €30k I have seen quoted elsewhere on here happy to answer any questions about Solar for Newbies -

BUT the best thing of all is it takes us about 2 hours to go around the local market as we spend most of the time chatting to Spanish friends.

I spend most of my time on the Finca and doing the things I like to do and not so much on the internet these days. The weather is glorious and at the moment :fingerscrossed: not too hot. 

All in all everything is good, and this, for wannabees, I believe, is because we RESEARCHED RESEARCHED AND THEN RESEARCHED we listened to what people said and made our own minds up. Get your paperwork in order and done first, it is good to know that only after 4 months, we are legal and covered. and the locals are impressed that we have all our paperwork in place as well. You must make efforts with the locals, they are invaluable to you, our neighbours ( even though a few KM away) have been amazing, helping us sort out problems and issues, and remember, you are a foreigner in another country, things are different, but at the end of the day, is that not why you wanted to live somewhere else.

One last thing. Do not underestimate the following

You WILL miss family and it can be a struggle some days, but it will get easier....:fingerscrossed:

If like us you are early retirees or newly retired and not used to each other 24/7 Give yourselves some "time out" space :boink:

Love
Me


Meant to say Pics our dogs and part of the finca


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Hi Cambio, so pleased to hear that things are all sorted.

I would be interested (as would many others, I'm sure) in your solar installation.

For example, what did it actually cost? what did you get? How much power does it produce? what sort of back-up generator do you have? etc. etc.

Thanks.


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

Looks fabulous.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> Hi Cambio, so pleased to hear that things are all sorted.
> 
> I would be interested (as would many others, I'm sure) in your solar installation.
> 
> ...


HI
No problem, 

We have no choice here but to have solar, there is no possibility of mains at all. Before we came, we had read various things about solar. Good and bad,

The hardest thing at first was establishing what we needed re "potencia". There is a lot of maths calculations and you need to know all about KWH per day year etc. So we made a list of what we wanted and to be honest it is fairly basic.

Fridge/Freezer
pump for water into house
8 ceiling lights
aprox 20 plug points
tv
internet satellite connection
assorted others!

We have no microwave, aircon etc, we do have ceiling fans though.

We have 6 solar panels and 12 batteries.
Invertor etc

Our potencia is approx 4KW our usage is about 3KW. 

The system, installation, including works and materials, plus the pump for the borehole, pump for water into house was €10K.

Now obviously the proof is in the pudding as they say, and the pudding will come in the winter, when the days are shorter and the sun not so shiny!
We have set aside extra funds in case we are short of power this winter. Our batteries are, we are informed, able to supply us for 4/5 days with no sun. We have a generator, we originally wanted a push button start jobby, but then came in at about €4k, we plumped for a pull chord, with i think 5/6 kw load, honda engine. We have had 2 cupboards built one for the batteries etc, and one for the generator as they are not to be together. We use the generator once a week at the moment to fill the deposito tanks from the borehole, at the same time we use the washing machine. The only reason we do not use the WM on the solar is because it will not work. I have googled this, and it appears to be a common problem, but it is no hardship to do this. 

So to sum up. I have seen people on here quote HUGE figures for solar, I mentioned these sums to my electrician, who nearly passed out. BUT remember we are in a quiet and dark corner of Spain, we are not heavy users and have not really got any heavy usage items. The only draw 24/7 is the fridge, freezer and internet satellite. At some point I will try and list all the items on the bill, as they itemised every single bit of cable for us( €10K inc IVA)

I hope this helps. The plumbing side for the borehole and connection to the house was about €400.


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Thanks cambio, it sounds like you're a bit remote which I personally would like but my other half would prefer a village with facilities etc. I've read quite a few of your previous posts and have found them really helpful with regard to our own move in about a year or so. We haven't looked at Extremadura but it does sound nice. Has your spanish improved a lot since your move and did you both do lessons before moving to Spain.
Thanks again and keep it up.

Roy


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Roy C said:


> Thanks cambio, it sounds like you're a bit remote which I personally would like but my other half would prefer a village with facilities etc. I've read quite a few of your previous posts and have found them really helpful with regard to our own move in about a year or so. We haven't looked at Extremadura but it does sound nice. Has your spanish improved a lot since your move and did you both do lessons before moving to Spain.
> Thanks again and keep it up.
> 
> Roy


We are approx 4km from our nearest village and about 2km from the next person living here permanently. However at weekends we are surrounded by Spanish neighbours working the vines, figs, olives and livestock - Cows and sheep.

I love it here in Extremadura, but it is not for everyone, there are expats about and actually more than we thought, but not many, which means that the authorities are not so used to our paperwork and Extremadura is probably a bit behind the popular regions.

As for the language, I had a few lessons, mainly self taught, I did start an OU course in Spanish , but to be honest, the basics were all we needed,because some of the words I learnt have no resemblance to what is actually spoken. My Spanish is improving and that is because I make sure I speak as much as I can to the Spanish locals, who are more than happy to correct and teach me. They appreciate it when you try and actively encourage. It can be very stressful especially when dealing with important issues, and if I get to a point where I am missing the point, I make sure I get help from another English speaker. The only other advice I can give you, is make sure you both learn, my husband is only just starting to speak a little and there have been times, when I have found this very difficult as I feel a lot of pressure on me.
We also ensured that we had as many of the people we met, around for tapas etc, and this has also helped us with the language and integrate with the village

Where are you thinking of moving to.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I was just thinking we hadn't heard from you lately...telepathy!!
Glad everything has worked out so well.


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Thanks cambio, sounds right up our street. We are looking at a number of areas tbh from around velez malaga area frigiliana periana etc or estepona area or extremadura now. We will rent to start with which I suppose means we can try out different places. We will also try and get a few extra visits in looking at areas.
Thanks again.....


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Roy C said:


> Thanks cambio, sounds right up our street. We are looking at a number of areas tbh from around velez malaga area frigiliana periana etc or estepona area or extremadura now. We will rent to start with which I suppose means we can try out different places. We will also try and get a few extra visits in looking at areas.
> Thanks again.....


I have PM'd you some links you might find useful for this area.


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## Allie-P (Feb 11, 2013)

Hello Cambio,

Glad all is well with you & yours xx

I can see how busy you have been ! Congratulations.

Yes, like you, we sorted our paperwork immediately. Tortuous & slow at times - but very satisfying, once achieved.

Good tip about "time out" for couples, who have previously both worked & are not used to living in each others pockets


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## liverpool_expat (Jul 11, 2014)

I thought solar panels were going to become illegal.. well not illegal, but you had to pay extra tax for generating your own electricity. Have you heard about this? What is this about?


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

liverpool_expat said:


> I thought solar panels were going to become illegal.. well not illegal, but you had to pay extra tax for generating your own electricity. Have you heard about this? What is this about?


There has been a great deal of internet chat about this. This was directed at those who sold back to the grid, plus I do not worry about anything that is reported on the internet, I am only worry when it affects me. 

I have a new mantra now in Spain... Because here I have no choice either I have solar and pay whats coming... or I have no power and never have a cold glass of wine!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

cambio said:


> There has been a great deal of internet chat about this. This was directed at those who sold back to the grid, plus I do not worry about anything that is reported on the internet, I am only worry when it affects me.
> 
> I have a new mantra now in Spain... Because here I have no choice either I have solar and pay whats coming... or I have no power and never have a cold glass of wine!


... which you can't do in Spain!


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## fevmor (Jan 10, 2014)

HI,
really interesting post. We have just moved to the Picos in Asturias and like you are a long way from the nearest village and have no neighbours, just lots of cows !
Our house cane with about 20 panels and 2 sets of batteries which were all over 15 years old,
We now have removed the panels from the roof and taken the batteries out of the house and put them in a shed. My husband has fiddled ,cleaned and tried every combination possible and we are now producing enough for basics, just using the generator for pumping up water. 
Our only major failure is the washing machine. The generator scrambles its brains and our very tiny temporary inverter just isn't up to it.
We haven't got all our paperwork sorted yet trying to do one major thing at a time, At the moment we have plans in the ayutamiento for farm buildings which we will need to put up before we can apply for a CEA, like a smallholding number, then finally our goats and ponies will be legal. All made more complicated as we are 50 yards from the National Park and all there is tight controls to protect the area. Even with all these complications have found everyone very helpful but,like you, I do find legal Spanish quite stressful.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

fevmor said:


> HI,
> really interesting post. We have just moved to the Picos in Asturias and like you are a long way from the nearest village and have no neighbours, just lots of cows !
> Our house cane with about 20 panels and 2 sets of batteries which were all over 15 years old,
> We now have removed the panels from the roof and taken the batteries out of the house and put them in a shed. My husband has fiddled ,cleaned and tried every combination possible and we are now producing enough for basics, just using the generator for pumping up water.
> ...



Hi Glad you, like us, are settling in, as for the washing machine this is very common on solar, ours works on the Genny, but not on the solar, we have friends and their washing machine works on the solar and not on the Genny!


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