Hello Mouch and welcome to Pond Boss. Like you I do not have power at my pond property. When I was considering aeration I researched solar powered aeration. I would do extensive research regarding solar systems prior to purchasing one. You have to work backwards to determine the size of the solar system that you will need. By this I mean that you must first determine the size of the compressor that you will need to correctly aerate your pond (run the required number of diffusers at the optimum depth to achieve a beneficial turn over ratio and a bank of batteries to run the system at night if required). Once you know the pump that is required then you will be able to calculate the Photovoltaic (PV) energy requirements.

My pond is between 2 and 3 acres and is deeper than yours (about 18 feet deep) and when I went through this exercise (approximately 3 years ago) I found that the solar system alone would cost approximately $10,000 (this includes the solar panels, batteries, an inverter, a controller, cables, poles and pole mounts). But once again my pond is larger and deeper than yours so don't get overly discouraged by the calculations for my pond.

IMHO when considering aeration it is essential that you properly size the aeration system and the diffuser type and location. This forum has plenty of aeration disaster stories and you don't want to become one.

I would work with one of the aeration experts to determine the aeration system requirements and then use the compressor specs to determine the PV system requirements. A well designed PV system must include inverter inefficiencies, battery inefficiency, required number of amp hours storage, average number of hours of sunshine per day, etc, etc.

But that is just one forum member's opinion and I'm certainly no expert in either aeration or PV systems.



JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)