159 solar energy grants

I have heard that 50% grants are available for installation of solar power in Italy. I am not sure if that is still the case, or if Puglia is involved in that initiative.

Using solar power to generate electricity is rarely cost effective (unless your home is in New Mexico, USA) because of the set up costs, but solar power to heat water is very very efficient and can save you a fortune. Solar power (for electricity generation) is best suited to outhouses and remote locations not connected to the grid, but if you want to run electric heaters, cookers, or air conditioning off it you'll need to cover every square inch of your roof with panels.

While the solar panels themselves can give you 30+ years of service if looked after, the large batteries used to store energy do not - and they do not come cheap. Every Euro you spend on energy conservation will save you up to ten Euros on your solar installation later on so spend a few Euros on insulation, energy efficient light bulbs etc before you start.

Solar powered water heaters are much simpler to run, maintain, and there are no batteries - just a constant tank of free hot water. They also available relatively cheaply in Italy.

If you want to know more about Solar Power have a look at [url]http://www.mrsolar.co.uk[/url], or try [url]http://www.otherpower.com[/url]. Both contain a lot of practical information about Solar power which you should find useful.

Some friends of ours were told about the 50% grant and bought the solar heating. What the salesman omitted to say was that the 50% was recovereable in installments of 5%/year over a 10 year period!
Having said that, the system is very effective, both at heating water and augmenting their central heating; even on winter days its surprising how much background heat it gives. The savings are probably good if you have liquid gas, rather than mains, as your main source of heating.

Thank you for your replies I think I will start with the solar powered water heating system anyone know where to buy one in Puglia?

As in any case if you install solar panels etc they would have to be professionally fitted connected etc to your house system so it's a plumbers job he will procure what you require.This is not strange when we had our boilers fitted etc the plumber (obviously having previously given us an estimate) took care of everything ie. purchasing boilers etc,and personally i wouldn't have wanted it differently as they can get better deals than you or i.

Hi Jane,
I'm on exactly the same route as you for our house in Abruzzo. I'm having a great deal of success researching the subject on Google. Change the preference to Italian and dial in 'Solar Heating'. some sites even give you circuit diagrams. hope this helps
Rob

I am told that in UK you can feed electricity produced from solar panels into the national grid but get paid a pittance whereas in Germany tey credit you the price they charge for supplying. I don't know what happens in Italy but at least the sun shines. Having said that, this is the coldest wettest, windiest spring I can remember anywhere.

Hi, has anybody got any prices and supplier contacts for solar heating of water in the Abruzzo area or contacts for a good reasonable plumber with expertise?
I'm just starting renovation.

It's possible to get up to a 70% grant for photovoltaic power generation systems which feed the power back into the grid. There are lots of caveats. Before you can think of doing this you need to talk to Enel, only particular approved systems can be connected to the grid.

The system requires you to have two electricity meters and you will get charged rental on each meter. One monitors how much electricity you use, the other how much you put back. With this system there are no batteries, you use the grid as your "battery".

The solar panels are prohibitively expensive, and you need to think very carefully about the payback time of such a system. If you can get the full grant and you have an unshaded roof pointing in the right direction it may well be worth it. PV panels cost about £3.50 per watt of installed capacity, so you can expect to pay about £10,500 just for the panels in you wantd to generate 3kW of electricity - 3kW is the lowest tariff Enel supply, about 1/4 of the standard UK installation.

If you want coplete independence from the grid, you will need batteries and a charger/inverter to manage the supply. the batteries are lead acid similar to car batteries to but built to a higher specification. You would need approximately 20-40 batteries of 100AH to give a reasonable supply for all uses, at a cost of £1200 to £2400. The batteries have a life of 6-10 years.

All I can really advise if you don't have the skill to specify and install a PC system yourself is to get competing quotes and to enquire if your commune has grants available. I know several of the larger communes are proud of their dedication to clean energy and may be only too willing to help.