# Solar energy advice



## Henry1970 (Mar 3, 2015)

Hi all, I am thinking of getting solar panels for my house, any thoughts, suggestions?


----------



## JimMcSherry (Mar 3, 2015)

A friend of mine has a solar system, he's always telling me it's the best thing he ever did, sun's free, so why not! I live in a flat so I can't get solar, my electricity bill is killing me


----------



## Henry1970 (Mar 3, 2015)

Hi Jim, thanks for the quick reply!

The electricity prices in spain are criminal, Canada is bad but Spain is sooo expensive!

Just been Googling solar, I'm definitely going to do it. Who did your friend use?


----------



## JimMcSherry (Mar 3, 2015)

I'll ask him tomorrow, time for bed, got to get up early to catch some worms


----------



## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

I use solar energy to heat my water 

Would never go back to conventional water heating ( except for back up on bad weather days )

Tony Agost Spain


----------



## Henry1970 (Mar 3, 2015)

Hi Tony, I'm going to get a full solar system with battery back up. I've been Googling and I think I'll be fine with a 3kw system for my power needs... I agree with you, why use conventional electricity when you get it free from the sun


----------



## alborino (Dec 13, 2014)

Henry1970 said:


> Hi Tony, I'm going to get a full solar system with battery back up. I've been Googling and I think I'll be fine with a 3kw system for my power needs... I agree with you, why use conventional electricity when you get it free from the sun


Henry I would be very interest in the number of years before you break even that either the sellers offer or you expect. Once we move from cloudy northern Spain to sunny southern Spain we will certainly be looking at solar. Who knows we may even have some when we buy and just need to boost it up 

With spanish family moving in we will be five (one older one who feels the slightest cold) so heaven knows what the electricity bill would be


----------



## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Henry1970 said:


> Hi Tony, I'm going to get a full solar system with battery back up. I've been Googling and I think I'll be fine with a 3kw system for my power needs... I agree with you, why use conventional electricity when you get it free from the sun


Hi Henry

My system uses vacuum tubes to heat water , unfortunately it dose not produce any electricity 

But it dose save a huge amount of gas / electricity that I would of normally used to heat water 

I also pump the solar hot water through my under floor heating ( which helps a little
with back ground heat )

I would love to use solar for electricity too , but am a bit uncertain on the life span of the expensive storage batteries.

A while ago I changed my electric tariff to day and night , which gives me cheap electric 11pm to 1pm , and changes when the clocks change an hour to 10pm to 12pm ( noon )

It has really saved us a lot ( about 30 to 40€ saving per month )

Cheers Tony Agost Alicante


----------



## JimMcSherry (Mar 3, 2015)

ok, spoke to my buddy, he got his system from a company based in Catalonia but apparently they do everything from homes to resorts and hospitals, owned by a Dutch guy and a Brit, said they're really nice guys... He said he'd give me their details later, I'll keep you posted :behindsofa:


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Henry1970 said:


> Hi all, I am thinking of getting solar panels for my house, any thoughts, suggestions?


My take on this is that the government is not doing enough to encourage people to go this route.

I looked into it to supplement our existing supply.

I needed about 7.5kW on a regular basis so planned accordingly. The initial, setup cost was enormous - around 30k IIRC. The pay back period was over 25years just to break-even!

Absolutely not worth it if you already have a supply.

I would love to go green(er) but it just doesn't stack up.


----------



## Swerve (Jun 29, 2011)

If you have a sun trap place a couple of 25l black bins filled with water and put lid on and from say April to October you can easily get the water to 50c. We have been doing this for a few years and it works great.


----------



## Swerve (Jun 29, 2011)

Just google solar megastore and you can get an idea as to what the costs are going to be. I may get chastised but I don't have any connection with the place I've mentioned.


----------



## alborino (Dec 13, 2014)

snikpoh said:


> My take on this is that the government is not doing enough to encourage people to go this route.
> 
> I looked into it to supplement our existing supply.
> 
> ...


Snikpoh that sounds very expensive. Even in the UK payback is quoted often as 7 years and can certainly be less than ten. Are the spanish already taxing this stuff out of existence?

I'd have thought with more sun in Spain the generation would be economically better (although I only got O-Level physics ) but I appreciate the spanish authorities are incredibly against efficiency of any form


----------



## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

alborino said:


> Snikpoh that sounds very expensive. Even in the UK payback is quoted often as 7 years and can certainly be less than ten. Are the spanish already taxing this stuff out of existence?
> 
> I'd have thought with more sun in Spain the generation would be economically better (although I only got O-Level physics ) but I appreciate the spanish authorities are incredibly against efficiency of any form


Yes I think the Authorities are worried on all that tax they would miss out on if to many people used solar !!

Tony


----------



## alborino (Dec 13, 2014)

tonymar said:


> Yes I think the Authorities are worried on all that tax they would miss out on if to many people used solar !!
> 
> Tony


Tony I saw this regarding the proposed Spanish tax "The new tax would extend the average time it would take for solar panels to pay for themselves from eight to 25 years, according to the solar lobby.". Is this already in place?

I thought it was a possibility but the minute the PP get the boot it would go away.


----------



## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

alborino said:


> Tony I saw this regarding the proposed Spanish tax "The new tax would extend the average time it would take for solar panels to pay for themselves from eight to 25 years, according to the solar lobby.". Is this already in place?
> 
> I thought it was a possibility but the minute the PP get the boot it would go away.


So Sad Spain don't seem help themselves , always seem to make things difficult that should be easy and sensible !

Oh well at least the beer is cheap !


----------



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Where oh where do you get all these prices from

We have solar, a full system we run

A large Fridge/Freezer
Separate Freezer
Lights
Pump for Borehole
Hoover
Radio
TV
usual technological bits

we have NO microwave.HATE them, washing machine refuses to run on solar, washing machine issue rather than solar issue




We have 6 panels @ 1.95kw (Ithink!)
12 Batteries 2volts
Invertor
Charge controller

Backup generator

Cost including installation €6500

It is brilliant. We have no choice as there is no possibility to have mains here.
We have only had the Genny on a few days this winter and only for a few hours.

if you need any further info please PMme


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

cambio said:


> Where oh where do you get all these prices from
> 
> We have solar, a full system we run
> 
> ...


It's really very simple, as I stated, we need 7.5kW.

We run a hob, oven, microwave, air conditioning, w/machine, d/washer, fridges, freezers, pool pump, hoover, kettle, hair straightners etc. etc. Not all at the same time I grant you but we have had occasions where the power trips because we are drawing too much.

I have tried to persuade the family to cut down but they won't or can't.


I worked with an electrician friend to cost such a system using trade prices and we came to nearly 30k - bear in mind also the short life of the batteries.


----------



## Henry1970 (Mar 3, 2015)

Wow, 30k! I was hoping to pay a lot less! I've done a bit of research, I think you break even after about 5 years


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

We looked and it was the cost of the batteries that were the crippler, so we opted for just solar hot water. During the winter we use a calientador off bombonas and also gas from the same bombonas for cooking. Today we switched back to using solar for the hot water and it was way too hot. We could probably use it more in the winter but the suegra was misnamed and should have been called Mimi and takes over 20 minutes to have a shower, whereas the rest of us take barely 3-5 minutes each.


----------



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

I think the issue here is, if you want to live off solar, cheaply and effectively you have to make some lifestyle choices, So I agree with you snikpoh, in your circumstances 



> We run a hob, oven, microwave, air conditioning, w/machine, d/washer, fridges, freezers, pool pump, hoover, kettle, hair straightners etc. etc. Not all at the same time I grant you but we have had occasions where the power trips because we are drawing too much.


cannot see why you would do it. I read somewhere that if you are looking at 5KW or over, better off staying on the grid if you can.

I am no expert, but if you are considering solar, some of that stuff has got to go!. Friends have a similar issue and have now installed and automatic genny that turns on if the load is too much. Personally we do not have a family as such here, anything that eats electricity is not allowed and a year in we do not miss, 

As for replacing parts, its all part of the budgeting and contingency planning,,, The invertors are the most costly part of the set up at €1.2K


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

cambio said:


> I think the issue here is, if you want to live off solar, cheaply and effectively you have to make some lifestyle choices, So I agree with you snikpoh, in your circumstances
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I agree.

My main raison d'etre would be to be 'green'. Sounds a bit trite but I really thought I could do my bit.

Having re-read what we use, I agree that we should make some life-style changes first and that will be a lot greener.


----------



## alborino (Dec 13, 2014)

In our flat in northern Spain and mother-in-law's flat in Madrid the electricity often clicks off if too many things are running at once. Sadly to increase supply costs a lot whether you use excess very often or not. Took me a while to get use to it after the UK where you never have to think twice.

I like the idea Baldilocks has as hot water clearly can be used to supplement heating as well as showers. And as he says he has a backup. 

Possibly mistaken but I thought that the idea was to have a hybrid approach? I'll soon be near Cadiz and beyond solar and mains and gas I'm looking at windpower. There is a lot of free wind in Cadiz . I'm trying to find or design something that will if nothing else heat the pool. Has anyone seen such a set up?


----------



## Gareth54 (Nov 8, 2014)

There is also a system that they use in Germany drilling down to the ground water and using this warm water to heat the house. I heard this from a colleague at work who had a second home in Germany but the costs in Holland were 5 times as much ( licenses tax etc ) as in Germany so not really an option financially but greener yes. No idea if this can be installed in Spain or what the costs are but possibly something to look into.


----------

