Cyprus-Forum.com

[Transmitter_Man]

Can anyone recommend a supplier/installer of combined wind and solar power systems?

I am considering the construction (legal) of a home that is sometime away from being connected to the local power grid. I'm hoping I won't need it if a good enough eco system is out there.

Thanks.

Phil
www.datingincyprus.com

[siam]

wind power is too erratic, you could however get by with solar power, if your usage is low, you have loads of solar panels and batteries, you use gas for cooking, you have a diesel generator as back up. The Cyprus government will cover a percentage of your installation fee if its approved to get it approved its best to use of the local companies specialising in this

have a look at http://www.solarbuzz.com/CompanyListings/Cyprus.htm

[elko]

Solar power is far too expensive for the output you can get and also the runnings costs too much if you consider the fact that the life of the batteries is no more than five years at best. These are special "Stationery" batteries and are very expensive. I suggest you stick to a water cooled diesel generator.
ismet

[siam]

tell me more about these stationary batteries, i understood you needed deep cycle batteries which cost more because of the increased lead in them, but they can be recycled.

Solar power is a lot "greener" than diesel

[Transmitter_Man]

Thank you both for your input.

There seem plenty of dealers in this equipment though most seem to be US based. I've yet to come across a Cyprus based supplier with a web presence.

I have looked into both technologies and have found that in recent years technology has moved on.

Wind generators require less than a breeze to start generating electricity with modern blade designs and solar panels have become more efficient.

The land I have been offered is the very pinnacle of a hill so feel I'd get that breeze the majority of the time together with the all-day sun.

Once again thanks for your feedback and the link which I will now follow up on.

Phil
www.datingincyprus

[elko]

Siam,
Stationery and deep cycle batteries are the same thing. Normal car batteries have to deliver large currents for a short time in order to start the car engine. For this reason they need a large surface area to deliver the large current. hence they are made of thin plates like a grid to increase the surface area. However when they are used in conjuction with inverters continuously, the thin lead plates get hot and disintegrate in a very short time. A car batterry will not even last a month if used with an inverter every day for a few hours. I know this from experience because I sold thousands of inverters in Cyprus. The heavy duty, deep cycle or stationery types (call them what you like) are made of thick plates and thus they are heavy and costly but are expected to last a few years depending on the extent of use.
Another disadvantage with solar energy is that the inverter necessarry for converting electricity from direct current to alternating current must be of quality design so that the output is of sine wave type and also able to protect itself against overloads. The cheaper inverters will blow up at the first opportunity.
The real use of solar energy is feasible if you are allowed to feed the grid during the daytime and use electricity from the grid at night time. thus the weak link of storage is surpassed. For this you must have a two way meter so that you only pay for the extra electricity that you use. I think it is an EU requirement that the Electricity Authority offer such a possibility.but does it?
ismet

[devil]

Sorry, you have it wrong. I tried to install solar panels but got bogged down in so much bureaucracy that after two years of wrangling between the various Ministries involved, I gave up. The only authority which acted efficiently was the EAC; I got their approval within about 6 weeks of application.

In order to benefit from the subsidies, you must be connected to the EAC grid and the installation must be approved by at least three authorities other than the EAC, before you start installing. There are no retroactive subsidies. If you are lucky, you will eventually get a refund of 55% of the capital cost of an approved system. You will also receive a payback of £0.12/kWh for ALL the electricity you generate, which is roughly double what you pay. You will continue to pay at the normal rate, as now, for the electricity you consume. For a 3.5 - 5 kW solar installation, the amortisation would theoretically take 8-9 years under these conditions, with known Cypriot insolation, somewhat over 10 years in practice (because solar panels lose their efficiency in hot weather).

Wind is much more problematic in Cyprus. Various studies have been made, notably the paper published in Solar Energy Vol. 55 No 5, pp. 405-414, 1995, Statistical Analysis of Wind Speed and Direction in Cyprus, S. Pashardes and C. Christofides. The mean annual wind speed at 14 sites (including coastal, Mesaoria, hilltop and mountain) varied from 2.4 to 4.4 m/s. A wind turbine capable of withstanding gale force winds (gusts >30 m/s) are generally rated for full capacity output at 16-20 m/s, depending on the construction. At 10 m/s, the output is as low as 30-40% of their rated capacity and at 5 m/s, they are down to 5-10%. Then there is the problem of the Cyprus weather. We have the privilege of extended periods of anticyclonic weather, almost throughout the year. This is characterised by low velocity prevailing winds. For example, where I live (Mosfiloti), since early November to 8 January, when I took my weather station out of service for repair, the highest wind gust was 7.4 m/s on 18.12.2005 and the highest 10 minute average was 2.4 m/s. Worse than this, was the fact that the wind gusted on most days only for an hour or so in the early afternoons. In the hours of darkness, during this whole period, I recorded only a handful of gusts of <2 m/s.

That having been said, there are a few places that benefit from strong katabatic winds in summer, from about 1200 to 1700, and these can be consistent at 8-10 m/s nearly every day. These places are in deep, narrow valleys, mainly on the S-facing side of the Troodos massif. One such place is Kouros dam and there is a proposal to build a 30-50 MW wind farm there. Strictly speaking, this would not be particularly profitable but it would be useful because the peak energy generated would coincide with peak electricity demand for air conditioning, so it could reduce overloading of the grid and the risk of blackouts due to excessive use of aircon units, thereby avoiding having to build more capacity of conventional generation.

I believe (am not sure) government subsidies for wind generation are smaller than for solar.

If you wish to go ahead, good luck, but be warned, it's a mare's nest. Been there, done that, gave it up!

They told me it couldn't be done.
With a smile, I went right to it;
I tackled that job that couldn't be done.
And couldn't do it!

[Transmitter_Man]

All you need to do now is write the book! I found an interesting article via the bottom left link on this page: http://www.homepower.com/.
It lays out what would be required in a typical wind system. Inexpensive it does not look and as you say acquiring grants looks difficult.

However, I do have to research this further as it will probably be at least a couple of year until zoning comes my way to assist in connection to the local supply.

Thanks.

Phil
www.ammusicradio.com
www.datingincyprus.com