Electricity

First and foremost, the Quinta is not on the grid, so all the electricity is generated on site.

It is run 90% by the sun and is as ecological as possible with an extremely low carbon footprint.

It is a “mixed” system, i.e. solar and generator. This is by far the most practical, robust and economical system.

In an average year, at present, the total electricity and water maintenance and running cost is €6,000, (inc. IVA but not including depreciation of infrastructure).

This cost will obviously rise in the future when one looks at the present state of the world, but it’s a far cry from the recent price rises for State-supplied utilities, and the doubling of the solar input during the winter of ’22-’23 has seen a marked and noticeable reduction in the Quinta’s use of the 3-phase generator.

Again, the vast majority of the electricity the Quinta uses, including that for the water supply, is produced by photovoltaic arrays which are backed up by the 3-phase generator running a couple of hours a day on half-price agricultural diesel. Agricultural diesel is supplied whenever necessary by a local supplier typically within 48 hours. There is a 1,000 lt tank that lasts an average of four months.

In terms of electrical use, there is no difference from a normal household, apart from a lack of mini-bar fridges and air conditioning as in a “normal” lodge. The problem of mini-bars is avoided by having a bar that is operational the majority of the time, the problem of air conditioning is avoided by having well-designed and built structures with plenty of insulation.

The following is a précis of the system for those with a technical bent.

There is a base system of 24 2V 1650 ah batteries with a 6kw hybrid inverter, a set of photovoltaic modules under a mobile structure totaling 8 270W solarworld modules that inject into the grid through a 3.6kw grid inverter, another group of 10 330w Sharp modules connected to the grid with a 4KW inverter, and 16 180W Sunpower modules connected directly to the batteries through a 60A charge regulator.

A slightly easier description of how it all works is that the electricity supplied to the buildings is to the normal European standard of 230 volts.

This electricity is stored in twenty-four 2 volt batteries, (life expectancy 15 years and a new set was installed in October 2025), wired in series to produce 48 volts which is then inverted by a Sunny Island invertor to supply 230 volts, 50 Hz.

The batteries can produce 1,650 amps per hour for 100 hours thus with a maximum capacity of 69 kilowatts.

The Sunny Island invertor can produce 8 kilowatts for 30 minutes or 6 kilowatts continuous. This is backed up by a Sunny Boy Direct Invertor mounted on a rotating photovoltaic array that produces 3.6 kilowatts and another on the roof of the office that produces 4 Kw. This is added to the 6 continuous; thus the system produces 13.6 kilowatts of continuous power – way more than is ever demanded of it, but should you decide that you need more, a third, fourth etc etc Sunny Boy Direct Invertor can be added. At present there is no need.

During the day there is very little or no power normally taken from the batteries as the Invertors provide power direct from the photovoltaic arrays, thus saving the batteries to supply power only when the photovoltaic arrays are not functional, i.e. on the few cloudy days or at night.

The Sunny Island Invertor is an intelligent system that is programmed to monitor the batteries constantly and thus prolong their life. For example, should the batteries ever be at 80% of their capacity for 3 hours, the generator will start up automatically to keep them topped up, and the same will happen should they be at 70% capacity for 2 hours or at 60% for 1 hour or 50% for 20 minutes etc etc. This actually happens very rarely, but does occur sometimes during the winter if it’s cloudy for several consecutive days when the Quinta is closed for business and therefore there is little necessity for the generator.

The generator itself is 3-phase, capable of 21 kilowatts; again, way more than is ever demanded of it. There is also a “Phase-regulator” installed which equalizes the phases when the generator is running, thus making it run more efficiently and prolonging its life.

The generator starts automatically if needed, but can also be started manually on a timer situated in three different places; next door to the dishwashers, by the back door of the private side or in the laundry.

There are four photovoltaic arrays; one fixed, (that only powers the solar pump), another fixed, (supplying power to the main system), another fixed, again supplying power to the main system,) and the last rotating, (once again supplying power to the main system).

The first one that’s fixed, (above), is on a fixed stand and charges the batteries full time through an MPPT, (Maximum Power Point Tracking), charger.

The second one that’s fixed is on the roof above the office. That and the rotating array both work with a solar on-grid inverter that injects up to 7 Kw directly into the main system; any surplus is directed to charge the batteries.

The batteries are checked twice per year and re-filled with distilled water should this be needed.

Each room has a fuse box, with, up-line of these, fuse boxes in the individual buildings and a main fuse situated in the battery shed.

The 3-phase system has a socket in the workshop and another in the kitchen for the 3-phase dishwasher.

The basic outline of the system is that the majority of the photovoltaic arrays charge the batteries during the day whenever the sun is shining on them, and the power stored in the batteries is changed from 48 volts to 230 volts by the Sunny Island Invertor.

Whenever the generator is used to power the 3-phase dishwasher, power is also generated as a free by-product both to charge the batteries and to pump water to the Charca, (the water tank), should this be needed.

Thus, by putting on a load in the 3-phase dishwasher after dinner the batteries are also charged last thing at night so that there is always enough power to get us through to the next day. (In actuality, the batteries have enough power stored in them to enable the Quinta to run normally with no lack of power for 2-3 days.) The 3-phase dishwasher can do a load in 20 minutes, so a couple of loads done during dinner is usually sufficient – any extras are loaded into the normal dishwasher for cleaning with the breakfast detritus during the morning when the sun is shining. This normal dishwasher does a load in 3 hours, but basically costs nothing to run.

In this way, while any use is made of the 3-phase dishwasher, the batteries are also being charged and water is being pumped at no extra cost while any use of the normal dishwasher during the day incurs no costs for the Quinta. Both dishwashers have hot water fed to them from the solar system, thus avoiding the need for them to use electricity to heat the water.

This system, (feeding water pre-heated by the sun into the machines), is also used with the clothes-washing machines, and this saves, literally, thousands of euros every year. All three washing machines are working multiple times during the day simply on the power supplied direct from the sun with no need for the generator to start.