I've been studying how to install electric power on the Portuguese property. Initially, I was thinking of setting up the whole system by myself and only paying the utility company for the connection and the monthly power bills. Still, since I started getting solar, and especially since I joined the crypto world and started experiencing the freedom it brings, I kinda hate going the regular centralized way on anything.
The plan is to have a complete "regular" electric system in the apartment in the village, with switches and outlets on most of the house and I can manage to set that up myself. Electricity in Portugal is not very expensive and if I go solar, It would take me years to pay the initial investment out of the consumption savings, but still, freedom is a big part of those savings for me so I believe I found the perfect solution.
I've been enjoying my small Bluetti EB70 ever since I got it a few months ago together with a portable solar panel. You can read about my initial test in this post.
It is not a powerful unit, I use it to charge LED lights, the cellphones, and the computer. It works perfectly but when trying to use a camping fridge taking about 50Wats, it lasts only a few hours. With this unit, you can only use appliances taking up to 1000Watt and I experienced it during my last trip when I tried to use the circular saw and ended up having to turn on the gasoline generator as the small Bluetti unit did not provide enough power for that.
During this past week, while going over the list of all the electric components I need to purchase to do the whole system installation in the apartment, I started taking a look at more powerful electric power units from Bluetti, they now can use regular solar power panels to charge and in Portugal, I have plenty of sun. I focussed on a new unit they just released, the AC240, with a rated output of 2400Watt which can increase to 3600Watt for small periods if needed
The idea is to have something ready to use ASAP, charge it with a couple of 500Watt solar panels which I can temporarily set up in the ground before attaching them to the roof, and use this setup for the renovation period. Once everything is finished, I plan to use it to power the regular electric installation instead of contracting the power from a utility company. Here are the basic specs of the AC240 unit which is water and dustproof.
I called the Spanish dealer and they can deliver it to Portugal. I believe I will go for this option and have it sent there instead of getting it delivered home and taking it with me in the car. I can add additional batteries to increase the capacity up to 20KWh if I need more power than the 1500Wh the unit provides, and I could also use this unit on the farm and get a more powerful one for the apartment later on, once I finish all the work and start living there for short periods.
It may be a more expensive solution considering the initial investment and will take a few years to pay back, but to me, going free and unlinked to all the regulations and additional costs from the regular utility invoice is more than worth it.
