Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Power off again. Went yesterday morning last night this morning and now again. What’s the excuse this time. Bet they don’t say poor management what it is crazy

The news said yesterday that there is no power coming from the South to bolster our failing electrical system, hence we can't produce enough anymore so - no surprize then - power cuts are with us again. In Catalkoy they have been twice a day now so guess there are no MP's living in this area - lol.

Allegedly they will finish at noon at today, apart from the one we had at 3 that is. I read an article that it will be decided on a daily basis by the South if they will provide electricity for us. I'm wondering what time our 3rd power powercut will be today.

Two cuts today. If I was a tourist renting a villa this would definitely stop me from coming again. And as for the continuing building of houses, shops hotels etc, absolutely crazy. This should all stop until they have a lot more generating capacity or this magic cable from Turkey is suppling the island. One final rant, why isn't home p.v encouraged and made easier to install. I hear getting permission to do this is difficult!

thornaby wrote: ↑

Thu 24 Aug 2023 4:12 pm

Two cuts today. If I was a tourist renting a villa this would definitely stop me from coming again. And as for the continuing building of houses, shops hotels etc, absolutely crazy. This should all stop until they have a lot more generating capacity or this magic cable from Turkey is suppling the island. One final rant, why isn't home p.v encouraged and made easier to install. I hear getting permission to do this is difficult!

Off again only been back on for 2 hours. This is going to be life as we know it unless you have a vip in your area crazy

Third one today, how tiresome is this! Seriously thinking of moving away from this one eyed backward country.

It really is tiresome, we were blessed with power for a whole 5 hours and had just started to watch a film

4th today only been on 1 hour. This really sucks in this heat. Obviously were we are no vips. Surly this is right out of order. Some one wants to find a new job emptying dustbins

3 cuts yesterday. Are these cuts right across the North or is it just the girne area?

Powercut 1 of the day

No I am Yeni Erencoy Karpas end 4 yesterday messed up the racing at York and much more.

I went to market today in Iskeli the amount of high rise apartments gone up in Bogaz is amazing they must have added a large town. Imagine if those 10 thousand plus units were occupied with all the other new properties witch must go into the 100s thousands units across trnc it would be more power cuts than power on. This really worrisome and must make us all feel it really has got out of control. If they agree to run line from Turkey. Like the water pipe it could be another 10 years + . Buy that time will that suffice? Out of control. Obviously the people in control couldn’t give a monkey as loads of money to run their ginormous household off large generators. Sad for us all really

thornaby wrote: ↑

Thu 24 Aug 2023 4:12 pm

Two cuts today. If I was a tourist renting a villa this would definitely stop me from coming again. And as for the continuing building of houses, shops hotels etc, absolutely crazy. This should all stop until they have a lot more generating capacity or this magic cable from Turkey is suppling the island. One final rant, why isn't home p.v encouraged and made easier to install. I hear getting permission to do this is difficult!

general said,

- the "magic cable" from Türkiye is planned to be ready not before 2028.
and even then, electricity only can be supplied when there is excess power available... meaning, the russian build nuclear power station in Akkuyu is in operation.

- there is a long term gov agreement with Aksa, to buy a a quite huge amount of energy from them. thats why aksa will install more diesel generators.... and later on will connect the cable.
so,on top to the fact that solar energy power is limited to certain technical issues, as a max amount to be connected to trafos the lot, the idea that many would supply their own energy, is not very good for this agreement.

old homes are using too much energy. new houses as well.not insulated the lot.
we do have thousands of pools. how many run them with solar energy? a few. for those, you do not need a permission...

people are not interested to spend more money on homes, often without title deeds.
so, small and-or low quality back-up systems or generators are very common. nice business.

everybody looks only after themselfes. so, dont complain.

Kibsolar1999, now you have got me interested - "we do have thousands of pools. how many run them with solar energy? a few. for those, you do not need a permission...".

I have a 3mtr by 3mtr by 1.5 mtr dip pool - all you need really and I fill it from my well - it currently runs on a 3/4 HP pump but what sort of solar power would I need to take it off the mains altogether??

waddo wrote: ↑

Fri 25 Aug 2023 12:30 pm

Kibsolar1999, now you have got me interested - "we do have thousands of pools. how many run them with solar energy? a few. for those, you do not need a permission...".

I have a 3mtr by 3mtr by 1.5 mtr dip pool - all you need really and I fill it from my well - it currently runs on a 3/4 HP pump but what sort of solar power would I need to take it off the mains altogether??

off grid solar pool pumping makes sense from , say, 8 x 4 x 1,5 deep pool. say 50 m³ = 75 m³ circulation per day in summer.

How much would a 5kw off grid system cost and how many solar panels would you need

TAC wrote: ↑

Fri 25 Aug 2023 1:57 pm

How much would a 5kw off grid system cost and how many solar panels would you need

off grid systems parameters are, in short,
- solar panels measured in kWp
- inverter power measured in kW
- battery storage measured in (usable) kWh.

solar panels are available in 415 - 500 Wp, size is approx each 1,8 to 2 sqm. so, you would need 10 to 12 or, say, 20 m² for 5 kWp.
solar panels are not so expensive any more.
inverters are available as hybrid inverters or you choose a combination of on grid and off grid inverters and or with a solar charger or not.
as the inverters or chargers work 7/24, also here a better quality is advisable.
batteries should be of good quality (long cycle life, as flooded lead acid), but cheap gel batteries from china are NOT good quality.

whether 5 kWp + 5kW inverter + ?? battery storage is sufficient for you, i can not know.
chinese rubbish (5 kWp, 5-7kW hybrid inverter + 4 units 12 volt, 200 Ah gel batteries (note: 3 kWh usable storage only) does start at 7k ?, better ones 50 - 100 % more.

Thanks kibsolar1999, guess it's not worth it for my dip pool! I average between 500 and 550Kw per month for everything including aircon in the summer, a bit less in the winter so far because of wood stove heating but I think it will work out the same when the central heating starts being used early next year. Guessing that a 5 Kw off grid system may be useful instead of a smelly old generator but need to look around to see where I could put 20m2 of solar panels first. Right now in the "Planning" for the future mode to make life easier when the dark nights come - lol.

waddo wrote: ↑

Sat 26 Aug 2023 5:56 am

Thanks kibsolar1999, guess it's not worth it for my dip pool! I average between 500 and 550Kw per month for everything including aircon in the summer, a bit less in the winter so far because of wood stove heating but I think it will work out the same when the central heating starts being used early next year. Guessing that a 5 Kw off grid system may be useful instead of a smelly old generator but need to look around to see where I could put 20m2 of solar panels first. Right now in the "Planning" for the future mode to make life easier when the dark nights come - lol.

solar off grid systems must be calculated correctly for each single customer.
to sell "5 kW off grid systems" is not ok, but , it seems, very common.

if you want the "function of a generator" only (back up), you do not need solar panels. off grid inverter and batteries are sufficient.

What's stopping someone from being off grid and on grid Id it possible ? What's the issues ..

If you go on grid if the electric goes off you don't have back up as it' feeds into the system..

Can it be configured to have both so you have electric when kibtek go down.

I was a TRNC swallow for 18 years, from the first year on I had a 6KVA generator , could not have copped without it.

Reyntj wrote: ↑

Sat 26 Aug 2023 1:20 pm

What's stopping someone from being off grid and on grid Id it possible ? What's the issues ..

If you go on grid if the electric goes off you don't have back up as it' feeds into the system..

Can it be configured to have both so you have electric when kibtek go down.

if you go on grid and be registered with kibtek, than you feed your excess and this will be accounted for future use (net metering)
if you have peak uses, , eg all on, the grid will supply you with your needs. especially in the morning or evening 8 or 10 kW power consumption in peaks is easily possible. eg, 3 kW water heater, kettle, air con, oven, washing machine.. all on same time.
basically, you can take your yearly consumption and divide this by approx 1700 and you have the amount of solar power to be installed to cover your needs..
eg, 7000 kWh consumption / 1700 = 4,11 kWp solar power and a 4 kW on grid inverter. thats it, easy to install and relatively cheap.

if you go off grid, you need to plan "all" much better. the consumption you should calculate not per year, better per month, even better per day
why? because the solar irradiation is not always the same, you have the said peak uses and batteries are expensive and therfore storage is limited,
on top, you need much more effort to install everything.

just as an info: if you have an on grid system which feeds the grid , it must be registered and must be technically (wiring) seperated from all other systems, incl the batteries or generators (yes, in good systems solar panels even can run in parallel with generators.. but this might be a "bit to much" for NC) .
if you feed the grid from an off grid system (from solar panels, batteries or, eg, from a generator), it is strictly illegal (and you are not accounted for).

the term "off grid" is used, nowadays, wrongly, as off grid means off grid, meaning the mains is not available.

you basically have two possibilities:
1. a registered on grid system plus a separate back up system, can be batteries or a generator.
or,
2. you have an "off grid system + mains support", which does not feed the grid.
meaning: you live as long as you can from solar and if the peak power is too high and - or the battery storage is down, the system automatically switches to grid-mains. same time it could charge your batteries.

Thnx good explanation. The off grid means you don't need any license but I suppose the biggest downside is the battery cost and their degradation

Reyntj wrote: ↑

Mon 28 Aug 2023 11:12 am

Thnx good explanation. The off grid means you don't need any license but I suppose the biggest downside is the battery cost and their degradation

any back up sytem, generator or batteries, seem to be a luxury.
and- or, the more it becomes a necessity, the more you should spend.
eg, into good batteries.

the often sold chinese jel "deep cycle" batteries (the 12 volt ones, eg, 200 Ah) have a "cycle life" time of approx 500, max 700 cycles @ 50% depth of discharge.
meaning: every day 50% discharge (so, 100 Ah used of a 200 Ah battery.. or, say, 4 x 12V (in series) = 48 Volt batteries, each 200 Ah = 48 Volt x 200 Ah = 9,6kWh nominal storage.
but 50% discharge only = 4,8 kWh "usable". = appprox 1,5 - 2 years and the batteries are in deep problems.
and if you dare to discharge them to, say, 75%.. and - or discharge at high currents (here, as the given example: above 2 kW (only)) it takes maybe several weeks only to see the first damages. waisted money for nearly all systems sold...
they are basically for power cuts from time to time for "smaller use", but not for "solar off grid systems for the house".

a good flooded lead acid battery have a cycle life of 3000 - 4000 cycles @ 50% discharge and 2000-2500 @ 75% discharge.
li ion of any kind are terrible expensive and... who can handle- install- program li ion batteries here in cyprus correctly?
yes, "the ustas" , i know..

that people consider solar systems + batteries to be expensive, is directly related to the low electricity .. and petrol price.

Hi kibsolar1999

I have a question you might be able to help with
My roof faces west one side and east the other with a very small roof facing due south
I will not be able to have many panels on the south roof but I can on the east and west sides
If I was to put extra panels on the west and east to make up would this give me a good output

TAC wrote: ↑

Mon 28 Aug 2023 8:15 pm

Hi kibsolar1999

I have a question you might be able to help with
My roof faces west one side and east the other with a very small roof facing due south
I will not be able to have many panels on the south roof but I can on the east and west sides
If I was to put extra panels on the west and east to make up would this give me a good output

in general, solar panel areas can be devided, as on grid inverters usually have two mpp trackers (inputs).
solar panels are wired up "in series" and for each of the "strings" you need approx min 3-6 panels (up to max 15 -20), depend on the inverter, to achieve the neccessary "start up voltages".

in comparison to a straight south insallation of course you have losses, but not as much as you would think and would "justify" ugly (and expensive) steel contructions.
possible shading (water tanks, chimney, overhanging roofs.. this kind) is another issue.

for off grid systems often "hybrit inverters" are used and they work not all the same way. some are off grid inverter - charger with inbuild on grid inverter, some are off grid inverter with a solar charger.
so, all systems must be good planned to achieve a high output and correspond with the need of the customer.