The price of photovoltaic solar panels has dropped 80% in 5 years. Currently, a photovoltaic installation can start at 4,000 euros. There is also the possibility of 100% financing of your installation, as well as European subsidies and state rebate, such as on the IBI, in most cities in Spain.

The amortization of a photovoltaic installation, at current electricity prices, is achieved in a period of between 3 and 5 years.

On a technical level, there are only a few requirements:

• Having on the building or property a surface area of more than 20 m².
• A roof with sufficient surface area to install the solar panels. Rounding up, each panel is some 2 meters high and 1 meter wide; therefore, 2 m² of space per panel. With this data, you can draw conclusions about the number of panels that could fit on your roof.
• The area should feature maximum exposure to sunlight and, if possible, be free of shadows. It is, therefore, advisable to install solar panels on roofs, decks and terraces.
• The roof must be in good condition, to ensure the maintenance of the solar panels, which have a service life of 35 years or more.
• Photovoltaic solar panels are compatible with virtually all types of roof tiles: wood, concrete, composite, tar, gravel, slate and metal. However, clay, wood and slate tiles are less durable and, to avoid breakage, it is advisable to hire experienced and reliable installers, such as Solideo.

There is no state legislation that prevents, prohibits or fines citizens for the installation of solar panels in private homes. On the contrary, the installation of solar panels for self-supply is strongly encouraged by public administrations. What we can find are some particularities at the local level. In any case, Solideo tracks all the legal requirements and advises its customers to make the best choice in each case.

It is important to note that most photovoltaic installations require a very simple application for minor work, presented to the corresponding city hall, termed a “prior communication”. Fortunately, it is not necessary for a city hall technician to review the project, which, otherwise, could delay the process between 1 and 3 months. The current law allows the installation of solar panels pending a simple notification that this work will be carried out.

First, the installation company studies the factors of the house: dimensions, installation area, roof slope, location of the building, current electricity consumption and power contracted, type of heating and approximate electricity costs. With this data, the client is asked what type of installation is needed and advice and information on legal benefits is given.

Once a specific installation is made, different components are installed over a period of 1 to 3 days:

• Photovoltaic panels
• Solar inverter. Converts the captured energy to be used at home
• Monitoring system. Computer system that sends information about the operation of the system
• Bidirectional meter (already installed in your home). It calculates the electricity supplied by the contracted company and also the electricity generated at home. That is to say, it calculates the surplus energy that we do not use at home and we pour it to the public network so that they can pay us for it.
• Batteries. They are optional, they allow to store the energy surpluses and to take advantage of them when there is no sun.

The number of solar panels that your home will need will depend a lot, apart from the square meters, on how many people live in the house and consume energy, the geographical area or the orientation of the house itself. However, it is estimated that in a home of 100 m² where 4 people live, about 3,000 kWh are consumed annually.

For that amount of electricity, 5 and 7 photovoltaic solar panels will be needed, since the average solar panel produces a maximum of 550 kWh per year.

As we have explained in the previous point, the number of solar panels needed for a house does not depend so much on the square meters as on other factors such as the consumption of all the people living in the house, the geographical area, the orientation of the house, etc. Although these circumstances make each case vary a lot, statistics show that houses of 200 m² in Spain need about 10 solar panels.

The first thing we need to know to size this installation is how much energy your country house actually consumes. The best way to do this is to add up all the average usage of electrical devices and appliances. Once you know how much power you will need when you are in the country house, you need to think about how long you will be staying there.

There may be some things you want to keep running when you’re away, such as the refrigerator. So, as above, you now need to figure out how much energy you will use when you are not there.