Solar system for a holiday home — power without a grid connection

Topla Kuća designs, supplies and installs off-grid solar systems for holiday homes, farmhouses and houses without a stable grid. Solar panels, an off-grid inverter and lithium batteries provide power where there is no grid connection: for the refrigerator, water pump, lighting, TV and internet.

What an off-grid solar system for a holiday home consists of

• Solar panels. Produce electricity during the day.
• Off-grid or hybrid inverter. Converts the power from the panels to AC and manages battery charging.
• LiFePO4 lithium batteries. Store energy for the evening and night.
• Mounting structure. Matched to the building: roof, canopy or ground mount.
• Protection and cabling. DC and AC wiring with the necessary protection.
• Backup generator, optional. Added for long overcast periods; we have such a system at a mountain house.

How panel power and battery capacity are chosen

Power and capacity depend on what you connect and when you use the holiday home:

• What you power. Refrigerator, water pump, lighting, TV, air conditioner.
• When you use the property. Weekends only, the whole season, or in winter too.
• Evening consumption. The battery covers the evening and night, when the panels are not producing.

In winter the sun produces less electricity, so a system for year-round use is designed differently from one for a summer house. That is why we prepare the quote from a list of appliances and how you use the property, with a measurement on site.

Examples of our off-grid systems

These are off-grid systems we have installed in Montenegro:

• Grahovo: panels 4.55 kW (10 × Risen 455 W), Growatt SPF 3000-5000 ES 5 kW inverter, 12.5 kWh batteries
• Gosici: 5.6 kW panels, single-phase 6 kW off-grid inverter
• Mountain house: off-grid system with a backup generator

See all solar power plant projects.

Off-grid, hybrid or on-grid system for a holiday home

• No grid connection. You need an off-grid system with batteries.
• There is a connection and you also want backup power. A hybrid system works together with the grid and switches to batteries when the power goes out.
• On-grid system without batteries. Reduces the electricity bill but stops when the grid goes down, so it is not suitable for a property without a grid.

An example of a hybrid system in Serbia: Šumadija, a 36 kW solar power plant with 61.4 kWh batteries and a 30 kW Deye hybrid inverter. It is not an off-grid system, but it shows what our work in Serbia looks like. Read more about the types of systems in the article How to choose the type of solar power station.

How the work goes

List of appliances and measurement on site, calculation and quote within 24 hours, equipment delivery, installation (duration depends on the condition of the building and the system capacity), commissioning and service. All steps are described on the Turnkey installation page.

Cost of a solar system for a holiday home

The cost depends on the panel power, battery capacity and the appliances you want to run, so we give the quote after a measurement. You can get an approximate estimate right away in the calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Can a holiday home run on solar energy alone?

Yes. An off-grid system with solar panels, an off-grid inverter and lithium batteries powers a holiday home without a grid connection. The system size depends on the appliances you connect and how often you use the property.

How big do the batteries and panels need to be?

It depends on the appliances and how the holiday home is used. For example, our off-grid system in Grahovo has 4.55 kW of panels and 12.5 kWh of batteries. We determine exact values from the list of appliances and evening consumption.

Does the system work in winter?

Yes, but the sun produces less electricity in winter. That is why we design a year-round system with larger reserves or with a backup generator, while a smaller system is enough for a summer house.

Is a generator needed?

Not necessarily. A generator makes sense if you also use the property in winter, when overcast periods are longer. We have such a system at a mountain house, where the generator serves as a backup to the batteries.

Can I expand the system later?

Yes. Panels and batteries can be added later, after checking that the inverter can support them. That is why it is important to design the system with some reserve from the start.