Solar Energy in Portugal

by Maria
(Portugal)

I live in Portugal, and am impressed with the number of homes and businesses I see with solar panels on their roofs. Mostly they are used to heat water, or to heat the home via a "heat exchanger" type of system.

A friend of ours has these panels on his roof, and I was surprised when he said that he does not need a clear blue day for the system to work, even a cloudy and cool day (which is pretty much all we get in the winter) is sufficient for his system to be effective. He was quite pleased with his system, and showed us all the components and described the operation in detail; a happy solar customer!

We are renting our home, but when we buy the home we intend to live in, we will begin to shop for a proper system for our needs; both for economic and environmental considerations.

Thanks for the info on this site, which really explains solar power at a level I can understand. I will be checking back here regularly, especially as we get closer to buying a home!