polly.walker

Does anyone know if there are government grants available to non-residents for Solar Heating. I live in Benissa, Alicante.

It would be great if I could heat the house in winter instead of expensive gas central heating, hot water and pool heating would be fantastic.

snikpoh

They're not really available to residents either ... what I mean is that every year they introduce grants for different things and you have to get the timing just right.

I installed solar heating 3 years ago, applied for a grant only to be told that the grant didn't cover what I had done that year but to try again the following year.

I did this only to be told that the money had run out and was oversubscribed!

I've now given up!

GrapeEater

CRAZY !!! In a country that has had 100 years of glorious sunshine the government hardly promote, encourage or subsidise Solar Power for domestic use !!!

It's 2009 and only now after the Big Spanish Property Boom of the last 20 years or so they make it law that new build have Solar Power... maybe they missed the boat a bit ? (and indicative of Spain's manana attitude).

Hopefully the price will come down once the builders / manufacturers increase production / demand because it's bloody expensive to buy / fit and can't see it being economical in the short term but of course 'greener' it will be.

polly.walker

Oh right, not straight forward then, but then why would it be we're in Spain!!!

I know this is difficult but can anyone give me a rough idea for the cost of installing solar heating for a pool 8m X 4m. Then I can seriously consider it or just put it out of my head

bil

Depends if you want to go the pro route, or make something yourself.

While the pro model will garner a bit more heat per sq metre, doing it yourself isn't too difficult as long as you are a bit DIY minded, and do a bit of study.

It sure as hell will be a lot cheaper.

Google what's involved. Even if you decide to go the pro route, at least you will have a better understanding of what is involved, how it functions and so on.

polly.walker

Not really a DIY kind of gal Bil, but thanks anyway. I have done a brief Google but it does'nt give any costing other than running costs.

Would love to hear from anyone who can give me an idea of purchase and installation costs for 8m x 4m. I don't really want to waste the professionals time if it's going to be out of my price range

pete_l

To be fair the grant situation in Britain is (was?) equally shambolic. I recall stories in the press a few years ago about mad dashes to get grants in, as soon as a new financial year started. And grant money that was supposed to last all year being exhausted in a matter of weeks.

To all you potential solar powerers, look on the internet for an american publication called Home Power. Although it has obvious limitations (like pricing everything in USD) it contains costings and paybacks and has some realistic info. about how much power / heating you can expect to get.

GrapeEater

I am no expert so don't ask me any questions but a neighbour (now moved) told me about a year ago (as I remember it)...

For Southern Spain 9x4 he needed 6 solar panels to heat the pool for the late spring / summer / early autumn ( the colder the season the more panels you need & there's less sunlight )

Approx price he paid was € 2200 for hardware and fitting (but I cannot remember who did it for him). How good it was? no idea !! Was he pleased with it ? Said his pool was 2/3/ or 4 degrees higher than his neighbours...

It looked ugly on his house roof / sun terrace though !!

In the Hondon Valley (i.e. above sea level + mountains) I would say the average use of pool is 3 to 4 months (with no heating) unless you like swimming in colder water. At the moment most pools around here average 28deg for June / July /August !

poolboy

I have solar pool heating & it cost 5ke 6 years ago, plus a cover at 1ke.

Benefits are 4 degrees plus over a non heated equiv for just pump time at 2e per day plus higher chem use.

You can swim comfortably in 22 deg min water temp in late May till end sep, ignore what the solar heating sellers tell you about march & nov, its not true.

So 5ke for 2 extra months swimming, I would join a gym next time.

EsuriJohn

The "Building Regs" were changed in September 2006 so any unit which received its licence after that date should have Solar water heating and if it was a commercial premise should also have Solar photovoltaic as well.

Solarwhizz

Grants.

These become available each year and are funded by Federal Government (EU Allocations??) but controlled by the regional community, IE for Valencia this is an organisation called AVEN ( see here, http://www.aven.es/informes/eolico.html ). There is a specific amount allocated each year, there is a window that is opened wherein you have to apply using the approved document obtained from AVEN, there is a requirement to have many other documents, including Cedula, Escritura, install invoice, description of install, CE certificates of performance and much more. The amount allocated is decide as a percentage of the total applications and the amount spent, in a good year there has been grants up to 40% of the install costs, other times less, There is a definite need to know the the process and the officials managing the process, the window for application opens what appears to us (the Expats) on a random basis once a year, if you miss the window you lose, there are one or two specialist Gestoria types around that will prepare and process your application for you, there is no guarantee of success, the gestoria will charge around 200€ up front plus expenses, IE post, travel etc.
The successfuly criteria and the amount you are likely to get seems to change on again (what seems to us) a random basis, but appears to be understood by the people in the know.
I know of at least a half dozen successfull application by expats, including non residents.
I can PM the email address of an engish speaking Spanish professional who will advise and process applications.

Solar water heating of good design and quality, for domestic purposes will supply plentiful domestic hotwater from about Late Mar to October annually, and during the low sun months there will be some elements of heating from Solar which will therefore reduce your other energy heating costs ( IE Preheater). Hence the reason most installers will claim savings of up to 70%of annual hotwater costs!! Cost of well installed compact system will be in the region of 2700€ inclusive, a split system (IE seperate hotwater tank say plumbed into the Central heating system) would be in the region of 3500€ maybe a tad more.

Central heating from the Sun, works well in summer !!! but not necessary, virtually same applies as for DHW, but the logic says that in when you need the heating most is when the sun dont shine, IE at night in the depths of winter. There are variants on this that will provide some benefits, but expense far outweighs advantages in my view,

Pool heating, a well insulated pool with a good thermal cover, will provide a level of heat gain, whenever the sun shines, but for comfortable swimming IE 24C+ ( in my case 26C min), you will not get much effect until about early APR, through to about late Sep/ early Oct. As a rule of thumb for an average depth pool of 1.5M, you will need solar panels at least to a minimum of 50% of the pool surface area, with some types needing up to 100%. Cost for an 8x4x1.5M pool could be as low as 3700€ but higher end systems would be in the region of 4500€, Thermal cover with roller would be about 850€
Sometimes it dont look that good either, Ther would be no grants available for pool heating systems

One of the Lowest cost form of heating for DHW and house would be Geothermal heatpump, or Air source heatpump, these work quite well with a set of Solar panels, and also can be plumbed in such a way that surplus heat can be fed into a pool heating system ( deliberately!!).. Grants are available under the Energy scheme, but you have to be very careful on the type of system you put in.!!! A typical Geothermal system for a three/four bedroom bungalow of say 200M2 with underfloor heating/ Hotwater would cost in the region of 18,000€ You could expect to reduce your annual heating bills by up to 70%. ( if you want to put on say 6 Solar panels this would probably be about another 4/5K

I have a cost model for an oil fired system that would run annually at about 1700€. which on the GEO model would be around the 400€ annually, this of course got better last years as the cost of fueloil rocketed.

Airsource heatpumps, can provide a much better extension of the swimming season, with on an 8x4 pool a 3KW unit (Electrical consumption). had the pool of my neighbour up to 33C on Easter weekend ( he has a holiday home and it was switched on the week before he arrived). A typical installed cost of one of these units would be in the region of 3500€ with running costs less than 2€ day when the ambient temperature is 15C or more. (There is also a new range of units(higher costs, but lower running costs) which are said to be even more efficient.)

helenba

solar power will not help you in the winter. not enough sun you all so need a wind turbine.we are quite high up we do get a breeze the winter sun is not strong enough to keep the batteries topped up so the turbine takes over we brought every thing in england had it sent by dhl and fitted the system our selves for 1500 pounds the system surplys us summer and winter no bills .

EsuriJohn

Are thes the stainless steel Swedish jobbies that are being heavily advertised in the free papers on the Algarve?

helenba

ours are shipped from america to england then on to spain out turbines have a 20yrs garentee and are heavy duty steel not alumunium.

bil

With the cost and maintenance quoted on batteries, I have long thought domestic turbines best suited for heating rather than photovoltaics.

With solar heating do bear in mind that no matter how good the system, it can only garner a certain amount for a sq metre, because that is all the sun puts out.

I must admit that I look at my two sloping corrugated asbestos roofs where one catches morning and the other afternoon, and my mouth waters to dump a whole load of exchange systems there.

Each roof is about 30 sq metres at least, so even with home made systems I ought to be able to be in like Flynn.