Cómpeta Solar have advertised in The Grapevine for a few months now but who are they and what exactly do they do. Malcolm Butcher is the owner of the business and perhaps is better known for his company House Martins which he and his partner Christine ran successfully for 13 years.
A second company he started about the same time called H M Heating installing Solar Hot Water and Heat Pumps for pool heating.
Malcolm bought a villa in the Cómpeta countryside as a holiday home and a redundancy led to the idea to move to the area permanently in around 2001 when a job was offered to him. This opportunity didn’t work out which led to his return to the UK to find work and where he met his partner Christine. They later decided to try the move again together and set up the House Martins villa management and cleaning business.
Malcolm is from a technical background originally working for the MOD in Electronics. When he left there he worked as a service engineer becoming to a senior engineer and finally as an area manager. He has always fixed things, he is technically minded and, in his words, can be a bit of a geek! Once in Spain with House Martins running well, he had an interest in solar heating and pumps. He worked as an installer for a local company on the side but where he really gained his professionalism and knowledge was from personal experience.
Malcolm decided to buy another property an old Finca in Cómpeta which had no electric connection, it was totally off grid much to Christine’s dismay! They were offered a long-term rental on their other villa and Malcolm agreed to this and moved into the Finca with no electric, no flooring and leaking roofs! Luckily for Christine she was going back to the UK for a couple of weeks! Whilst Christine was away Malcolm set upon the task of rigging up the Finca with a small solar system by putting panels on the Finca roof. In order to connect the Finca to the grid it would have cost over 20,000 euros as he was told the nearby transformer had no further capacity. Malcolm made the decision that he would not only transform and modernise the Finca but create a totally off grid system. The Finca now has 30 solar panels and he never has problems with electric supply. The Finca runs 2 washing machines, a big America fridge freezer, 4 aircon units, Solar Hot Water underfloor heating using a heat pump to heat the hot water. The Finca is about as modern as it gets, with the supply of electricity to every modern-day appliance you can think of and with room for more capacity as technology changes, he believes he has made it future proof. It really is a show case of what can be done off grid and gives Malcolm total credibility of what he can do and
extreme, many people are still connected to the grid and use their own solar power and the grid can make up any difference in electricity needs. This is what he implemented in his rental Villa using Kostal solar equipment so has experience in both levels of solar power systems.
Christine decided to retire from House Martins and Malcolm wanted to continue with Solar Power further which was made more exciting by new changes in the law. After a tricky situation with Endessa over the years, as the company weren’t keen on people making their own electricity for obvious reasons! It is now possible to both borrow and push back electricity to the grid and gain a credit. This is not paid out in actual monetary terms as it is in the UK but works as a credit against any electricity you may need to borrow, for example at night from the grid. Malcolm showed me an App he can set up for people after he has installed a solar power system. It shows what electricity you are making and what you are using and allows him to remotely check the system. This may be a bit technical for many people but I found it interesting!
Malcolm is accredited by Victron Energy as a certified installer he chose Victron Energy as its used to power energy on large ships and as they are out at sea this shows how robust the system must be. Malcolm provides consultations and installations of solar electric, solar hot water, solar pool heating and heat pumps. He will visit your home and advise the best place for solar panels this may be on a Villa or house, the roof of the garden building where ever it may be best to gain the maximum capacity of power. He will ask what they hope to gain, what their electric usage is like and will advise on the costs and type of installation needed whilst bearing in mind future electricity needs.
Many people ask is the cost of solar power installation going down and he honestly answers the price per panels have remained approximately the same over the years but the output from the panels has gone from 260 to 370 watts so you now get more wattage for the price. Another question when will “I get a return on my money? “and Malcolm again answers it does depend on the usage but he believes around 5 or 6 years.
Malcolm is accredited, knowledgeable, professional, experienced and lives Solar Power first hand. Solar Power is the future and with new government guidelines it is never been easier to install so why not choose a professional company give Cómpeta Solar a call now.
