Tenerife climate - solar hot water panels or PV ?

2 Posts

Sep 16, 2006 09:08 am

Hi all.

We are in the process of building a villa in Tenerife with an outdoor pool. The climate here is hot and we all enjoy the 365 days of sun - well almost 365 days. So it seemed crazy to me not to heat my pool (for the winter months only) via some kind of solar water heating system.

Thing is, we will not need to heat the pool during the summer (about 4 or 5 months of the year). Nor will I need the high volumes of domestic hot water that I expect such a system would generate in the summer (that’s when we need electricity to power fans and air con !!)

So, I got to think that as an alternative method, it would be better for me to instal a grid connected PV system utilizing a heat pump specifically for the pool and domestic hot water. That way we still get our pool heated in the winter months with the added bonus of 'free' electricity to run some of our domestic appliances in the summer.

In purist terms this may not be the most energy efficient way to heat a pool but it does seem to make sense to me for our situation given the climate here. Alternatively, I stick with the 'traditional' solar water heating system and just switch it off/regulate it during summer.

Does anyone else have experience of a similar climate/installation issue for heating their pool. Any advice or comment would be much appreciated.

« Last Edit: Sep 16, 2006 11:10 am by Ray Sparshott »

Sascha D

65 Posts

Sep 18, 2006 11:56 pm

Re: Tenerife climate - solar hot water panels or PV ?

The economics of heating (water or air) using an expensive technology that is only 10-17% efficient (i.e. solar electric panels) in converting the sun's light to useable energy is so poor that with the same money you'd spend on a solar electric systems you could probably buy from 10 to 16 solar pool heating systems (if not more).

Solar pool heating systems are very efficient at converting the sun's light to heat (60-70+%). They are also inexpensive when compared to using not only solar electric panels (PV) but also traditional sources of heating (natural gas, electricity from the grid, etc). Solar pool heaters have one of the best financial paybacks of all of the renewable energy systems available for home owners. A solar pool heating system can pay for itself in just one year (that's with no rebate, no tax credit, nada). Not many investements out there that give 100% return in one year! And in your case, as it sounds like you'll be using your pool all year round your payback period is probably even better.

If you're worried about using it in the summer. Just unplug it! It should be just about that easy. Disconnect it from being in line with the pool pump.

For some examples of solar pool heaters see:

http://store.altenergystore.com/Solar-Pool-Heaters-and-Solar-Spa-Heaters/c622/

AltE
"Making Renewable Do-able" (tm)
http://www.altEstore.com/

Ray Sparshott

2 Posts

Sep 20, 2006 05:02 am

Re: Tenerife climate - solar hot water panels or PV ?

Thanks for the reply. Your informed judgement is very much appreciated. I will stick with the solar pool heaters as suggested/recommended. Many thanks again for your help.

Ray

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Tenerife climate - solar hot water panels or PV ?

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