Hello,
I am just going through the process of buying a rundown finca, and as it is not hooked up to the electric grid, I'm trying to educate myself about green energy. I really am starting from scratch.

If anyone could pass on any useful links about various alternatives, solar, wind etc, and also about costings, I would be most grateful.
Thank-you

You might the thread Building on Rural (Rustic) Land? helpful.

do a quick search on the top right hand of the thread, there are a few threads running, and someone, cant remember who, is quite clued up on the whole issue.

Are you thinking of Solarwhizz??

I may well be, thanks.

I am presently going the same route and can recommend these two books:
"The Easy Guide to Solar Electric" by Adi Pieper, and "The Solar Electric House" by Steven J Strong.

There is a N. American forum I have found to be very useful and helpful too:
http://www.wind-sun.com/smf/index.php

This site is very informative, has a tutorial and a power usage simulator,

http://www.freesunpower.com/index.php

The key thing to keep in mind is, you need a variety of power generation methods if you are totally off-grid, and a large capacity storage system of some kind to cope with surges in demand, generator maintenance, and unfavourable generating conditions.

Passive solar water-heating is good for your washing and swimming-pool needs. P.V. panels might be suitable for trickle charging low-power and battery-operated devices, but would be hideously expensive on a scale large enough to rely on as your primary power source.

Hi expatnevergoingback,

I tried to explain how a house can be successfully run from a small pv solar setup here http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ight=billgates

Not cheap but certainly not hideously expensive either.
My PV system is costing me about 10000€ inc tax and should give me enough power for all my needs with up to 3 days' storage. I do of course have a back-up generator.
The alternative was paying Endesa about 8000€ plus tax to be connected to the mains AND having to wait while they do battle with all the people over whose land the pylons would have to pass.

What are your average and surge demand levels (kilo Watts) for that system?

In terms of cost I was comparing P.V. against other off-grid options, of course.

An excellent resource is the Energy Saving Trust

The system will cope with a daily average consumption of about 4000Whrs and a max surge load of 10kW.
The actual loads will be much less as the whole house will be as low energy consumptive as possible with LED lighting etc etc.
Water pumping is via a separate DC system and refrigeration is by gas.
All of my supplies have come from http://www.generador-electrico.com/tienda/
apart from an Outback MX60 charge controller which I sourced from a guy in Tennessee, a lot cheaper!
Nexy year I'll be converting the genny to gas.

Thanks for that information, its very useful

It looks as if you're doing what I'm planning for next year. If you're willing, I'd be very interested in comparing notes and experiences once I've relocated.

I've got a passion for building most of my devices almost from scratch but I realise that initially at least, it might be better to install an off-the-shelf system while I play about with it all

Apologies to you billgates!

It was actually your article that I was thinking of, when I suggested Solarwhizz in response to a previous post
I know that Solarwhizz also has a lot of useful information, and I guess I remembered his name a bit more easily
I meant to give you credit for your excellent post - sorry

Anyway, it sounds like there are several like minded people out there, all doing or planning good things. Good luck to you all

I checked the prices on the site above , and generally found them to be expensive, batteries and the outback and Vitron range are, very expensive.. except bizarrely for the Outback MX 60 regulator,
I would say the that Outback are slightly more expensive than other types, but are without a doubt the most robust available, apart from the one big advantage of its direct transfer capability,

As I have said before, be wary of buying the chinese imports, they are good value and cheap for what they are, but they rarely meet the need in all aspects, DIY is an option, but mistakes can be costly also,