One of our neighbors with a Fairway Home in Pueblo Campestre wanted to avoid the cost of propane by heating his pool with solar. The initial plan was to use a Pentair Heat Pump to heat the pool that would be powered by solar. The original plan called for solar panels and a generator, with CFE providing the power for most of the house, especially at night. Then, Campestre faced the challenge that CFE was restricting the number of new meters that it would issue until an agreement was reached for Questro to build a substation to provide distribution for the development and its future projected needs.

As a result, the homeowners decided to install the latest in solar technology to power the house without the need for a connection to the grid. Working with Innovacion Solar, a system was designed the combined the newest of solar technology. Twenty Maxeon solar panels of 450 W were installed on the garage roof and second floor pergola, providing a potential for 9 kW of electricity to be generated an hour during full sunlight. A brand new 15 kW Sol-Ark, all-in-one inverter was installed that combines the ability to receive the solar power, convert it to electricity to both charge the bank of batteries and directly provide power to the home. Most of the previous inverters had separate inverters, charge controllers and monitoring systems in place. It is also a hybrid inverter, which allows the systems to be hooked to the grid, once CFE installs a meter at the home. Innovacion Solar has worked with Pytos to create their own brand of lithium-ion batteries with the prismatic cell design, which is currently one of the most efficient systems available. The batteries can be fully drained before recharge, while some other lithium-ion batteries can only be drained by 80 or 90%. This home had a rack of six 5.2 kW batteries, providing total storage of 31.2 kW. The batteries had a 21-year projected life and one of the best warranties in the industry. Final component of the system is the Pentair heat pump, which produces 140,000 BTUs to heat the pool.

Currently, the house is operating fully on solar, and the owners have been extremely happy with the installation and service provided by Innovacion Solar to make their home ready for occupancy. The swimming pool is not yet completed and so the heat pump is still to be evaluated.