# Solar Panels?



## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

I found a couple of stale topics, but figured it was time for a new one. I’m a newb on the subject, so start any advice from scratch. Although most of Mexico would be ideal for solar panels, few here have them and nobody in the town I’m in, even though a couple of neighbors have summer CFE bills of over 50K pesos. Mexico also doesn’t offer solar subsidies or credits (that I’m aware of) other than to big businesses. 
I’ve seen solar water heating contraptions, but in a climate where the temperature rarely gets below 18°C, and the water coming out of the well is almost lukewarm, we’ve never had a water heater of any kind. Electricity for fans and A/C is the need, and our situation is that, after vacationing to our small house for 15 years, we now find it cramped as a permanent residence. It’s time to add on, with that will come higher bills, and we’re already getting into the excessive usage rate, running just one air conditioner at night so we can sleep, not six of them 24 hrs. like the neighbors with the astronomical bills. Any info or personal experience would be welcome.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Have you looked at Photo voltaic panels? They generate electricity from the sun. You can save the generated power in batteries.
With the right system you can have all the power you need to run your home.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

We have a 10 panel PV system (no batteries) with a bi-directional meter. We've had the system for about 2 years now. We were about to enter DAC. No A/C but we have a pool. Our panels are fixed to the South. Now we pay CFE 25 pesos/month and we are running a rolling credit balance. With the dollar/peso situation - I think such systems are only getting more expensive as time goes on. I know our inverter comes from Austria. The panels are made in Mexico. We received at least 3 different quotes. We lucked out in that one of our neighbors also had a system installed a month or so before us. We went with the same guy she used - and I think he was in a good mood. At least two other neighbors have since had the same guy install systems as well. We are all very happy.


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## Perrier (Dec 18, 2016)

When I get ready to buy I will definitely be using some sort of solar power unit. Maybe just to heat the pool, but it's a start.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Perrier said:


> When I get ready to buy I will definitely be using some sort of solar power unit. Maybe just to heat the pool, but it's a start.


Our PV panels are hanging off the back wall of the property.
To heat the pool water we have something like 35 or so black plastic panels (from Germany) - those panels currently sit up on the roof - but I am thinking of moving them down closer to the pool. So in a sense our PV system 'contributes' to heating the pool in that we use a pump to move the water up to the panels on the roof. But to be honest - in three years we have perhaps used the spa a half dozen times and we have never been in the pool (which is a nice pool).


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

We have 12 panels on our roof, exchange system so no batteries either. The system powers all of our needs including electric heating throughout the house for this time of year.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

These guys are very good and serve the Lake Chapala area, where many folks have gone solar:
[email protected]


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

The initial cost of going solar versus the power you get per day, is the main reason average people do not go solar.
I spent on solar ,the same amount it would have been to install an electric company line and meter, and got so little daily power supply. I had to ration power use and do away with any ideas of getting this gadget or that appliance and even some night with darkness cause i left something on all day or just had careless fun.
I ended up with a back up generator which cost so much fuel that i had a fuel bill that rivaled an electric company bill. All that plus the cost of solar equipment and the generator.
A net loss other than independence.


Its not a lose lose situation. My situation was i started small and when need for expansion came, i only had enough to get a generator which gave me surplus supply but at a high cost. I was way out in the middle of nowhere so it was no problem and i got a quiet generator and housed it in sound dampening as well.

You have to spend big to get good efficiency and wait 10 years to see the gains from not paying electric bills.

Average people do not have the thousands of US$ it takes to set up properly. Especially where subsidies are not an option.

They need to subsidize solar electric system manufactures like they do oil companies and all will be well.

Tesla has a system out that lets you use your roof shingle or roof sheeting expenses to buy solar cell roof shingles/roof sheets instead. Roll the cost of both into one and save big. But the Tesla power box is the one cost that isn't rolled into a dual function building material. Still it has really good efficiency and a reasonable cost for what it provides.

Solar energy has gone down in price and still coming down ever since more than a few countries have gone into manufacturing and subsidizing it.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

As I recall - when we ran the numbers we will recoup the cost of our PV system after 7 years. Today that may even be a shorter period given the constantly rising CFE costs. Add into that the peace of mind that even as I type this reply our system is making energy and keeping us out of DAC. I guess one aspect to be considered is where one lives in Mexico. We are in Zone 1 for usage - that allows us 250 kwh/month. I don't know where zone 1F is - but those folks are allowed 2500 kwh/month.

http://http://www.cfe.gob.mx/casa/4_Informacionalcliente/Paginas/Tarifa-DAC.aspx

I would venture a guess that our two year old system might cost as much as 25% more today - mostly due the the currency rates. 

When we bought the house it had three of those old fashioned dial type meters. Shortly thereafter CFE came through the neighborhood and replaced those with digital meters because the older meters were 'slow' - the new meters charge usage as much as 15% higher.

For completeness - the inverter has a long life (probably longer than mine) but the panels has a much shorter life - they degrade over time.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Orfin seems to have had an off-grid system with expensive batteries and a controller, etc.
Most folks in Mexico are simply installing sufficient panels to keep them out of the DAC billing range from CFE, or to reduce their electric bill to nil, by having enough panels to run the meter backwards during the day, while using CFE grid electricity at night. That can be done easily with any home that has roof space and a southern exposure to the sun. It can pay for itself in a surprisingly short time, and is popular around Lake Chapala, where purveyors are available.


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## Altima (Dec 20, 2016)

You'd think that solar panels are the way to go, seeing that most of Mexico is sunny most of the time.
Too bad that it is still too expensive to purchase and install still, and at time finicky to deal with. For what it's worth, going off grid is not that do-able for most of us.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The prices are going down as more people are going solar We have solar an receive credit for the electricity we produce, 
We pay 60 pesos a month to CFE more or less and it is a good feeling as there did not seem to be a way for us to prevent from going on DAC.


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