Come on waiting with bated breath!!!

If you meet him you won't forget him

Well, spoke to our agent today and she said the electric company have made a promise to the government that there will be electricity in 2 months in Llacuna!! I know its Spain , and it is known that these things change but at least its a step in the right direction!!!

In a good way, or a bad way????

Suppose it depend's if you are gullable or not If you meet him and he gives you his normal line you soon realise that if he had done everything he says he has he must be 153 years old.Come to think of it we should start a new thread about those who reinvent themselves in Spain.A Spanish friend laughs and says the British army must be made up of Majors as he's never managed to meet a private.

My dad always said that judging by the amount of "ex SAS" boys living in Spain he doubted that the British army even had anyone else for the other regiments!!

His Gingerness was in the RAF he can usually weed out the Great Pretenders!!(mind you he's not sussed me out yet lolol)
Good news about the Leccy isn't it, Spain now breathing a big sigh of relief that I won't be round hers blowdrying my hair every day !!

silverchick, if you man is a spark then he should know if you want to use generators you will need a massive one & i mean in manual size to produce a very small out put in electrical energy.

I used to wire massive ones in the UK when i worked at BT as backup power in case the mains failed & believe me you will be very disappointed in the actual power output you can get.

Regarding wind power forget it mate again you would need a massive thing costing the earth, solar is very good very efficient but again wet cell fully sealed batteries cost the earth, ask your self is it worth the actual outlay. if you are stuck with one of the options you are saying on here then the solar may be the best bet.
regards

arthur

Not at all, The generator units today are compact , relatively low cost and easy to run, A 5KVA generator will easily do a house with a multitude of electric appliances providing some care is given into when you do what,
A 9,5 KVA unit would allow normal living, the running cost between a 5KVA and 9.5KVA is pretty much the same, but the real secret here is to reduce your generator run time, by doing some of the following
By using a generator of adequate size, do your washing, pool pump and housework ironing etc etc, all at the same time, so you maximise the output from the generator, By fitting an inverter battery system this could also be charged at the same time , again reducing running costs, by making it autostart(using an inverter with Auto load sensing) you could really run as conveniently as if you had mains, however it would be more expensive. ( although not excessively so)
One of the post here quoted 40/50€ per week, by fitting a suitable sized inverter and battery bank, this could be cut down to say 20 eu per week.
A fairlylarge system would cost in the region of 5000€, say 3KW inverter with built in load sensing (with min 30A autotransfer switch) and High output battery charger (85A at 24V.)
This would have the added advantages,
Silent power for most of the day,
System would detect when heavy loads are started or when battery voltage low and start generator,
Convenience of power at the flick of a switch
Should you get mains connection the batteries and inverter can be connected to minimse effect from power failures (a fact of life!!)

System payback based on 5000€ capital(does not include generator) and reduction of running cost to 20€ per week would be about three years.


The battery hybrid above properly sized is the basis of a good system by adding a couple of solar Panels, you would drive your running cost down still further.

Wind power is not necessarily cost effective in Spain, unless you have a constant wind, Consider the sun is there 6-8 hours per 320 days a year on average, wind tends to be for a few hours a day, So PV in my view it could make more sense € per watt produced annually, unless you live on a mountain, or coastal area with constant breezes.

The biggest issue I find with house in remote areas living on generator, is that the option seems to be go for the 2.5KW petrol genny from Leroy Merlin and then struggle with power and breakdowns coupled with huge running costs going forward.

Spend wisely, survey your consumption, cut back electrical appliances where possible, Use only low energy items/bulbs etc.

Size your system to meet your needs plus a reserve capacity, buy the best you can with long guarantees,
IE batteries are now available with 7+ years guarantee, and yu should expect 10years with proper usage.
Make the system as automatic as you can possibly afford, this will have effect of saving money long term by managing battery charging correctly.

NB stay away from electric heating, ie Kettles, fires fanheaters etc , , system killer!!!