solar panels

[trevnhil]

It seemed to be the normal man in his 4X4. He went on to read the meters of people without any panels

[cyprusmax47]

It seemed to be the normal man in his 4X4. He went on to read the meters of people without any panels

Thank you Trev, so it looks like that they will come to my area after 5 weeks from now, which means I will have more credit to lose then. Perhaps it will get hot very soon and I run my air-cons and pool pump more hours in this case...

Max

[PW in Polemi]

Max, I had understood with net metering that all credit units were lost after the invoice for either the billing period covering February or that covering March, whichever 2 month cycle applies to you.
I lost about 200 credit units following the invoice covering February, but am back in credit again.

[J B]

But you have not mentioned the cost of the installation.

Don't know any costings yet - one owner thought it may be a good idea so we suggested that he looked into it.

[cyprusmax47]

But you have not mentioned the cost of the installation.

Don't know any costings yet - one owner thought it may be a good idea so we suggested that he looked into it.

It seems to me that 100 Euro for 2 month running costs for a communal pool is very low. I don't know the size of this pool, but normally are pool pumps installed >1 kW. The running time for communal pools supposed to be ca 10 hours/day to be on the healthy side. In 60 days this amounts to 60-100 kW/h electricity. One unit is roughly 0.23 Euro, so the EAC costs will be between 140 and 230 Euro.

I would suggest to get a price for installing 4-5 Solar panels and a driver to run the existing pump, or alternative replace the existing pump and install a so called solar DC pump with 3-4 solar panels.

Both prices will be lower than a net-metering system but you are not be able to run lighting as well, but that is cheap if you replace the bulbs (LED)

Max

[J B]

It seems to me that 100 Euro for 2 month running costs for a communal pool is very low. I don't know the size of this pool, but normally are pool pumps installed >1 kW. The running time for communal pools supposed to be ca 10 hours/day to be on the healthy side. In 60 days this amounts to 60-100 kW/h electricity. One unit is roughly 0.23 Euro, so the EAC costs will be between 140 and 230 Euro.

I would suggest to get a price for installing 4-5 Solar panels and a driver to run the existing pump, or alternative replace the existing pump and install a so called solar DC pump with 3-4 solar panels.

Both prices will be lower than a net-metering system but you are not be able to run lighting as well, but that is cheap if you replace the bulbs (LED)

We have a new(ish) pump with a built in speed limiter (sorry, can't remember the name) and all the lights are LED

Would you dare to admit that maybe the solar panels wouldn't be economical for us?

[cyprusmax47]

It seems to me that 100 Euro for 2 month running costs for a communal pool is very low. I don't know the size of this pool, but normally are pool pumps installed >1 kW. The running time for communal pools supposed to be ca 10 hours/day to be on the healthy side. In 60 days this amounts to 60-100 kW/h electricity. One unit is roughly 0.23 Euro, so the EAC costs will be between 140 and 230 Euro.

I would suggest to get a price for installing 4-5 Solar panels and a driver to run the existing pump, or alternative replace the existing pump and install a so called solar DC pump with 3-4 solar panels.

Both prices will be lower than a net-metering system but you are not be able to run lighting as well, but that is cheap if you replace the bulbs (LED)

We have a new(ish) pump with a built in speed limiter (sorry, can't remember the name) and all the lights are LED

Would you dare to admit that maybe the solar panels wouldn't be economical for us?

You are on the right path saving energy with your installed variable speed pump and LED lights, BUT I am confident that investing in Solar power, whatever it is, (solar pool pump, solar-driven AC pump and a solar net-metering system) it will be beneficial in the long run economically as well as for the environment to reduce C02 emissions in Cyprus as electricity is still produced here with heavy fuel...

Max

[PolemIan]

JB, we have net metering in our house and very effective it is. We also have an apartment on a complex in Tala, so here are a few things to think about:
- for a grid connected net metering scheme you’d have to think about who is applying, there a load of forms to fill in and not sure how the EAC treat applications from Committees
- at our house we also have a separate direct system for the pool, which works well for a domestic pool, not so sure for a communal implementation. The pumps cut off if a minimum power level is not being generated, so in in cloudy periods and when the sun is very low, there’s a risk of no pump running when your pool cleaner turns up as well lowered turnover rates. So you’d need to to ensure the pumps are connected to an inverted that can switch between solar and mains supply
- we had to replace a pump at our complex a while back, and our pool maintenance company absolutely does not not recommend a variable speed pump in a complex pool as you don’t get the turnover required which is more important in a communal pool.
- we reckon the typical electric cost is around €1000 pa for a pool about 18x9. Concur with Trevs comments on return if your cost is 50 per month. Clearly there is a long term return, but it’s a fair chunk to take of communal funding in one go
- the savings from switching lights from the typical bulbs, 300w from memory, to the LED ones - more like 30w, in a pool with 6 bulbs, is well worth considering. You can either leave them on for the same time and save loads, or have on a bit longer - which many like, and still be saving.
- you’d need to think about having a decent space to install the panels. If the complex is open, ground level creates a risk of some idiot pinching them, and if on a communal roof area, it only take some owner to object to them being fixed to the roof above them to make the installation more complicated

Hope this helps.

Ian

[Dominic]

We've got solar panels, and a separate solar-powered pool pump.The pool pump is great. It has done the job all winter and cleaning has been a lot less of a hassle than last year.

On a similar note, we also have a pool cover and a pool heater. Because of this we've been swimming in the pool at a decent temp (27c) for weeks. The heater raised the water temp, and the cover does a sterling job of keeping it raised. So now the heater barely comes on at all.

I still can't quite believe that the first year we were here we could swim in a 17c pool. That's not happening any more. Our blood is turning Cypriot.

[cyprusmax47]

JB, we have net metering in our house and very effective it is. We also have an apartment on a complex in Tala, so here are a few things to think about:

- at our house we also have a separate direct system for the pool, which works well for a domestic pool, not so sure for a communal implementation. The pumps cut off if a minimum power level is not being generated, so in in cloudy periods and when the sun is very low, there’s a risk ....

Ian

Not only is Dominic happy with his domestic solar pool pump, also hotels like Avanti or Aliathon are running their commercial pools with commercial solar pool pumps (36 m3/h circulation) which are thousands of Euro per year cheaper to run, than their previous 3-5 kW AC pumps. GreenAir installed them many years ago and the solar panels don't look that bad on the roofs...


Max

[PolemIan]

We've got solar panels, and a separate solar-powered pool pump.The pool pump is great. It has done the job all winter and cleaning has been a lot less of a hassle than last year.

On a similar note, we also have a pool cover and a pool heater. Because of this we've been swimming in the pool at a decent temp (27c) for weeks. The heater raised the water temp, and the cover does a sterling job of keeping it raised. So now the heater barely comes on at all.

I still can't quite believe that the first year we were here we could swim in a 17c pool. That's not happening any more. Our blood is turning Cypriot.

Pool covers rock, 30 degrees today!

[J B]

Not only is Dominic happy with his domestic solar pool pump, also hotels like Avanti or Aliathon are running their commercial pools with commercial solar pool pumps (36 m3/h circulation) which are thousands of Euro per year cheaper to run, than their previous 3-5 kW AC pumps. GreenAir installed them many years ago and the solar panels don't look that bad on the roofs...

Our highest annual bill was €705 in 2017 (and 2018 was €539) so we would have a job to save "thousands"