Off-grid solar system in Spain.

2nd_time_buyer

A friend has asked me about an off-grid solar system for there small house (on a 60 acre estate) in Spain. They would run a generator otherwise. This is a quote they have received. It is for a ground mounted system. My gut feeling is a bigger battery might be useful and maybe more panels. They have a pool, so a heat pump heater might be possible for summer. Maybe also AC. I would be grateful for any thoughts - as I am a bit out of my depth?

QrizB

I don't know your friend's energy use etc. but it's quite possible that 3.2kWp and 11kWh of battery will be plenty.

Dropping a pin in the middle of Spain in PVGIS (just north of Toledo), a zero-azimuth, 37-degree-slope 3.2kWp array gives 5200kWh/yr, ranging from a low of 328kWh in December to a high of 529kWh in July.

2nd_time_buyer

QrizB said:

I don't know your friend's energy use etc. but it's quite possible that 3.2kWp and 11kWh of battery will be plenty.

Dropping a pin in the middle of Spain in PVGIS (just north of Toledo), a zero-azimuth, 37-degree-slope 3.2kWp array gives 5200kWh/yr, ranging from a low of 328kWh in December to a high of 529kWh in July.

Thanks. It is depressingly good for solar there by the look of it.

I guess it comes down to how often they want to fire up the generator. I'll try to get a better handle on their usage. 

ABrass

I don't think anyone has ever said 'i got too many panels'.

Heedtheadvice

Given the cost of panels relative to the rest, even though the expectation is for a high output (compared to the uk) I would also considering more panels.

Winter use might be to heat the pool and house heat and in parts of Spain like much of the med region it can be cold at night and one gets acclimatised to the warmer weather.

Two key things however are:

Consider the current annual demand and seasonal profile and adjust if possible to meet that need for similar properties and allow a bit for generation failure times (assuming he batteries can still be accessed for a few days bad weather), and

Lateral thinking; Find out what limitations or help there might be for such an installation, planning  etc. Given the area of land then GSHP might well be sensible for winter heat. Consider if there is local support for maintenance and repairs for at least a breakdown at some time- probably not easy to answer that!

EricMears

2nd_time_buyer said:

Thanks. It is depressingly good for solar there by the look of it.

Possible slight snag : a lot of sunshine also means panels will get hotter so efficiency drops.

2nd_time_buyer

ABrass said:

I don't think anyone has ever said 'i got too many panels'.

Thanks. I had a chat with him on the phone today. He seems to have found a good installer locally who has put together a good scheme and intergration with the generator and mains. My suggestion was to get a few more panels too. I believe the inverter is 5kw, so that would be a good minimum. They are ground mount and space is not an issue. I gave him the hard sell for air-to-air heat pump (air con) which would also benefit from some extra winter power for heating.

Altogether, it has made me want to move off-grid in Spain. They picked the place up for peanuts and they have a grove of almonds.