We are moving to AC in six months. We want to buy beach front way north of town where land is cheaper and operate on solar. Does anyone have experience with solar on AC? Thanks in advance for any info.

There are a few persons using solar and wind power on the island and i would say that the person to talk to about installation would be Eddy Halliday.

Sounds like you haven't bought your land yet. If you are dealing with a good real estate agent, they should be able to put you in contact with someone (former client of theirs?) who has hands on experience with this. I checked it when we first bought land up north. Seems like a lot of money for the system, but probably worthwhile if you plan on staying permanently. If you only visit your place a couple of times a year, you're likely to be better off with a small diesel or butane generator. I assume you'll have a boat for transportation, so getting the fuel up there would be just one of the few small inconveniences that goes along with living a cast-away life way up north.

I am building across the cut, about a mile and a half north, and plan to use solar and wind. Malcolm, who owns Fido’s, has a house totally run on solar. He is advising me on what to get. I have already purchased a solar hot water system.

I had been into solar for quite some time. Out on So. Water Caye. (on the reef)
Your best starting point for knowledge and prices
would be the catalog from:

New England Solar Electric
1-800-914-4131

www.newenglandsolar.com

Dont even think about wind power. You will just throw your money away and have nothing but problems.
best bet is a good solar system, starting around $2000 along with a small gen set and butane for your frige & freezer

P S -----If you will need a boat - check out my
MAKO -- for sale on www.buy-belize.com

Rich

You might want to ask Malcom why he gave up on solar and is using BEL now. I think with too many problems and expensive batteries.

Snowbird:

I'm interested in solar and wind. Plan to do a hybrid system with a Bergey Wind Generator and a few hundred watts of solar panels.

Question...could you be more specific re what kind of problems you've come across with wind power? I know corrosion from ocean salt is a big bugaboo. Any other common problem areas?

Thanks

Windmills are NOISY!!!

Yes, windmills are NOISY. They also do not work
very well in most locations. The wind must be over 15mph and that is for MIN. output and there must be a clear path both to the wind AND TO THE REAR of the wind mill. Unless you have a wide open path AND AN ALMOST CONSTANT 20+ mph wind they will not work. They can also be damaged from a good hard 'north'.
We tried one on So. Water Caye - Right on the reef - no blockage - mounted on the roof, on a 15ft mast. We got decent output about 3 days per month. (Oct through April) Not including those 5 day long cold fronts.
Yes, a $2000 wind mill can put out 900 peak watts but that is with a constant 30 mph wind
that same money would buy 500 watts of solar panels that work 6+ hours almost every day

We made our own power for 5 years - it's no fun. Whatever means you use to make the power is not the difficult part. The hassle comes to the issue of storing power you make. This is a ife-style that requires time, attention, money and patience. Batteries will cost a significant amount - we spent $6,000 on them, and were not able to have sufficient power for an electric frig.
When you live out of power range, you are generally farther from shops and that means that you need to store more food, not less. Ergo the size of your freezer becomes important. Propane friges do not last very long, are expensive and small.
Passive Solar water heating is easy- get a black water tank, mount it on the roof - fill it periodically and the sun will make the water hot.

Contact Sailsports and ask them how many wind days we've had this year (over 15 knots), I belive Chris still tracks that information. Based on the fact that I've only windsurfed about 15 times this year I'll bet that the number is very low. Wind is just not a reliable source for day to day power.

Snowbird:

Can you tell me what brand of turbine you used? Sounds like one of the homemade types. Those are pretty worthless.

I've had pretty good results with my Bergey XL1. Virtually silent and puts out 1kw (full power) at 24 mph. At 16 mph it puts out almost 400 watts.

SCUBASNACK:

I forgot (having a senior moment) but I think it was a Whisper or a AIR X.---400 watt $800
A 1 kw will run over $2500
I think a lot of the noise was because it was attached to the house. It was an experiment and a back up for our solar & gen/set

Can I ask how may hours per year had a wind speed over 16mph ---on land (island) Not out on the open water.
I could watch a sail boat 1/2 mile away with its rotor spining while mine was not moving.
We could also enjoy a nice breeze at the N/E point of the island while not a breath mid-island
There is just more sun then wind in most places.
Solar is more dependable and gives more bang for the buck. BUT- it is NOT BTL!!!!
.

Snowbird:

Thanks for the info. Yep...sounds like you had an Air-X. Those are indeed pretty useless.

Hey Diane:

You've got me wondering now. Can you give me a snapshot of the AE system you used? What brand of batteries did you use and how many?

Thanks

My friends who live on Long Caye at Lighthouse Atoll have a marine windmill. It is all stainless steel and very small and it is mounted on its own tower. They run their small house on it - and talk about being far away from the store - well go figure! LOL

When did Malcolm give up solar? I talked to him just a while back and he was very happy with it. He told me about the batteries that hospitals are required to have and rotate out with lots of life left in them.

Although I prefer to cook with gas I do not like propane' especially in a salt environment where the fittings rust out. I've heard too many horror stories and I'm very happy with my glass top electric stove.

Bedsides the environmental impact I don't want to have to rely on BEL. Four of us live in an L and would like to share the wind power.

My advice what what it's worth...spend the extra money and buy a lot that has power.

Folks are always talking about the environmental "friendliness" of solar power but...how much fossil fuel was burnt in the manufacture of banks of lead acid batteries? How much fossil fuel was burnt in the manufacture of solar panels? And, where do all those batteries go when they're shot after 5 years? And for what, so that you can burn a few light bulbs and a fan or two? Most folk who have solar power use gas refrigerators and don't have the luxury of being able to air condition even their bedroom.

ScubaLdy, you're going to have to install a huge amount of solar and wind power generating capcity and banks and banks and BANKS of batteries, not to mention at least one very high capacity invertor, if you plan to run your glass-top electric stove!

I think the solar hot water heater is a great thing, everything else is just aggravation and false environmentalism. I think mass-production of solar and wind power has a lot of potential, but individual (or even 4 people sharing) "alternative" power sources really only work if you're prepared to sacrifice a lot of comfort and practicality.

It's been over a year since Malcom paid BEL over $10,000 to get electric. I believe his problems began when his apartment was rented out and his batteries gave out. His renters couldn't take showers before leaving the island, because the pump for his well uses power. He has huge batteries that cost in the thousands. Its great for back up when BEL goes down.
Malcoms neighbor Josh also used only solar for his house. You might want to talk to him. They had washer, dryer, dishwasher etc. He had to charge his batteries for hours during the day, using many gallons of gas. He is now using BEL
We have a small house and have solar on a smaller scale(one panel) it gets us by when we are there (2 or 3 weeks at a time) We have enough power for us because we are careful, running a fan at night and lights and water when needed. We still need to be careful, especially when there is no sun. We can't charge an electric golf cart when our batteries(8) are fully charged. (not enough power)
Chris is absolutely right with every thing he is saying. You will be sorry if you go with just solar.

Scubaldy
Electric stove?
Just did some quick math - beside twin inverters you would only need aprox. an 80 golf cart battery bank to run it for one hour.

Photos of our old system are not available.
It's long gone, sorry. The technology we installed 13 years ago would not be up to speed today anyhow.
Kathy W's experience and advice is good - if you have no other options, your can make your own current and get by in a simple way. What one should not do is think for a minute that making your own power is cheaper or easier -- it's not - at least not on this island at this time.

If you are on the water and are planning on building outside of electricity then I think the best thing is a combination of Wind Solar and Generator.

Anyone who says that wind generators are noisy and do not work has not been in this country or has not seen a modern wind generator in many years. On the island at least we have an average daily wind speed of about 12 miles per hour and since most wind generators have startup speeds at about 5-7 miles per hour you will almost always be charging. They are not noisy and they are very very efficient because they also work when the sun goes down which is also when you use most of your power.

As for the batteries they now make very efficient gel cells which have a very long life. The batteries I currently have installed in my house are about 15 years old and still working. Most people who have battery problems are using golf cart batteries.

With the proper system there is nothing a good solar/wind/ generator system can't run. I am amazed that more people here on the island don't make use of this resource.

My system is greatly undersized but I still use it everyday and it handles every other aspect of my house other than the A/C and the fridge. My electric bills reflect the fact that I also use alternative energy.

Having alternative energy is not for everyone and when I moved here I would have been the last person to try and sell someone on it but now when the power goes out in town I don't even notice.

My advice is to have a company in the US or elsewhere size a system for you based on your needs etc. and then order it and have someone here install it. They are very simple to understand and maintain.

A small wind generator (marine model) costs about $500.00 USD.

Do yourself a favor and don’t take advice from people who have

a) never used a system of this type.
b) not used a system of this type in the last 5 years.

Good luck and may the sunshine down on your panels and the wind blow in your turbine.

I have to say I ran my house 2 bed 2 bath for years on batteries but they have to be the right ones each of mine weighed 160 pounds each only needed 6 to run the entire house

I had a regular refrigerator and hot water heater, fans lights everything but A/C on just 6 deep gel batterys and I ran the generator just 2 hours each day to charge them up never had any problems with the system only changed it cause regular power came up but I would love to change back if a windmill and solar powers could eliminate the need for the generator as the only pain was humping fuel up.

I really would not hesitate switching back cause once you have it its cheaper than BEL very reliable and u can always have BEL as back up power in case of problems.

Gaz

If you are still looking for land up north, we have 2 beachfront lots for sale including back lot directly behind it. It is about as far north as you can get, about 1 mile south of Mexico in the Palm Bay Subdivision. Go to www.islandproperty.cuposoup.com/land.htm for all the details. As for solar, I think a good solution would be a generator that you run to charge your battery bank. Then 100% of the output is stored. If you run only on a generator, excess capacity is wasted while you are using only a few loads.This is costly power but when it is wasted it is ridiculously costly. Pineapple Willie did this south of town very successfully. Then solar panel add-ons can be done anytime, as well as adding a wind generator. Solar by day, wind by night, and gas/propane generator whenever with maximum utility.