in my ongoing search for a good life, I stumbled across this website. I post it here to see if this is of any interest.


http://www.flisom.ch/e/index.html

I could imagine that lizard, wiz or Macgregorsailor have some insight that would be interesting to know.

Let me know your thoughts.

Being a reasonably new technology (and being made in Germany), it's probably pretty expensive to start with.  We have one 53 watt panel we brought with us from Belize.  The battery and charge controller which we bought here will hopefully be delivered tomorrow morning.  I'm in the final stages of laying out the irrigation of the back yard, using a 12 volt pump we also brought with us.  It won't save tons of energy in this application, but it's a start.  We also heat our water with the sun.  Old school panels, controllers, inverters are available here for not that much more than you would pay in the states.  Not alot of variety, though.  I believe CFE allows/encourages systems that send extra energy backwards into their lines.  True?

I've been talking to Carlos at Yaaxtec about solar hot water heaters. Here's their website:

http://www.yaaxtec.com/

Interesting stuff. An email using the webform on the site got a quick response from English speaking Carlos.

Lizard's eyes can barely see this morning / afternoon so maybe later tho we are looking at doing something to try and reduce the costs associated with some of the A/C and refrigeration but solar is not efficent for tese applications from what I have read?

For others who are, like me, fascinated with the possibility of solar electricity generation, here's a handy website which calculates the amount of energy that you can produce with solar or wind power in your own backyard (or roof). http://mercator.nrel.gov/imby/

Here is an MIT report I had bbook marked on a similar product. Personnally if the price is much cheaper I beleive it is an nice trade off on effeciency for installation

 

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/22745/?a=f

Solar and Wind energy...In a word..... even as of today..... COSTLY

 If it's your only choice ? Its doable , for a cost, a high cost But that's only IMHO.

 Sail Boats are always looking for electrical power and cost isn't so relative when there are few choices. 

 I have worked on a few systems .  Relevant ? Depends who's posting.

 Are you talking storage facilities as well as generation?

Are AGM's available in Mexico ? Are their cost relevant or ridiculous?

 Is this just a fun project or are you serious about power generation and selling excess power back to CFE. Have you dealt with CFE in the past? Have you ever had a dispute about why your power bill is 7000 MNP for a month when you were  gone ?

 See where I am coming from? Lets see who else chimes in and I will decide if I want to bring my BTDT hands on knowledge to the table. No offence but things have been a bit silly here as of late.

I think the concept is great. But......who want to have that film on their windows? Germany is my neighbor and they are extremly into solar, although they don't have the high gain with their climate. I am wondering if it is worth the effort, I mean the prices of electricity are not that high in Mexico. I have lived in Florida for 7 years and I would buy a system over there if I had to do it all over again with the electricity cost. Experienced 2x a hurricane and being without power for 2 weeks at the time was a nightmare.

In case of Hurricane I would think generator backup is the only way to go, who knows what will get blown away

Solar Power systems come in Categories. Cheap $ Better $$$ Best$$$$$$$

 Why would anyone buy cheap?

Lets move on. Cost. Cost is relative to need. My needs on a 26 foot sailboat are minimum and the system I am looking at for that boat is Total Cost with me doing the install is in or around $1000.00

 What are my needs? 1 small 110 volt dorm size fridge, numerous lights  of which most are 12 volt LEDs a DVD / Cd player and my Radios. Radios draw almost nothing in the receiver mode but have a much higher demand rate of consumption in transmission mode.  3 12 volt bilge pumps. I have 3 -12 volt deep cell batteries now.

I have presently, an on board power inverter for 110 to 14 volts.

 What do you really want to operate? Fridge? Lights ? is this your primary source or your only source? You may  need to cut down on your needs or spend large.
 Do you want only a system with direct feed, through an Inverter? Only works with the sun hitting directly on the panelsssssss.  Do you want those panels to follow the sun? Do you even need for them to follow the sun? If its your only source of power IMHO you need a battery bank add no less than $500 to $1000 to the cost.

 add to it the cost Panels , Inverter, Controller,

 There is no one size fits all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPj9frhKuo

CBS News link on West Texas wind turbines. There have been occasions when 5 and 10 turbines are transported and delivered to the West Texas area weekly. The normal "Set up" is usually completed within two weeks. Full capacity is achievable within 30 days. Of course hurricane force winds would cause some serious issues. 

As I understand, each turbine will supply enough power to sustain 50 homes during the heat of our Texas summer months with full power, and cheaper than our regular power source. I would prefer that these turbines be of smaller scale or design, but we all know "everything is bigger in Texas".

Having these in the coastal areas, would be a great discussion, and surely is thought provoking indeed. IMHO: Personally, I believe a much smaller version with more fins would be best suited for the coastal areas, with a fixed brake, and modified blade. As I understand, the Germans are working to develop new turbines now.

Mike