Unknown Spain - Eco holidays in tranquil woodland

The off-grid, organic resort in love with nature

In a climate suited to the cultivation of grapes for fine wine and nestled deep in the 350 square kilometres of the wooded Gavarres massif, in Spain, you’ll find Can Font de Muntanya.

Originally a farm, the property has been tastefully restored over the last ten years to make the most of its timber and stone – whilst the addition of huge glazing units show-off the dramatic hill-top views.

Can Font de Muntanya is a family-run resort of seven suites, a swimming pool, and a commitment to eco-tourism with no compromise. It offers quiet breaks; outdoor activities – such as hiking, cycling and horse riding; or off-road adventure on personal 4×4’s.

When the sun goes down leaving tranquility among these Spanish hills, it’s time to sample local wine and take a seat in the open-air restaurant which offers superlative cuisine, made from organic home-grown ingredients.

Although the resort is so remote there is no compromise in convenience. Can Font de Muntanya is self sufficient in water – drawn from ancient wells; firewood – fallen from many hectares of woodland – provides heating, and all accommodation suites boast the electric devices you would expect.

Off-Grid reliability

The off-grid site is self-sufficient in electricity having recently installed a state-of-the-art power plant.

Augmenting an existing solar/lead-acid energy system which was unable to keep up with the power demand, the enlarged and improved supply now has an additional seventy-two 580W panels. The power harvest, when added to the existing thirty-six solar panels offers a total of 52.3 kWp.

Solar energy is either consumed immediately or stored in the ZYC Energy battery bank which has a capacity 153kWh. There are thirty rack-mounted battery modules rated at 5.12kWh each. (Compatibility between Victron Energy devices and ZYC is explained in these support pages.)

The three-phase power supply uses a Fronius Symo Advanced 20 kW SnapINverter and a second 8kW model, both of which are AC coupled to three Victron Quattro 48/10000 Inverter/Chargers. The Quattro’s ‘Frequency shifting’ ability automatically controls the frequency of the Fronius Inverter to prevent over-charging the battery.

The system also uses a SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/200 and a SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/100 Solar Charge Controller to charge the battery directly from the panels. These high-power solar chargers are ideal for the large series-connected solar arrays often found in commercial off-grid power supplies.

Remote Management

The system can be monitored and managed remotely by the installing engineers: A Cerbo GX ensures that all installed devices can communicate – across their different manufacture-stables – and it also uploads real-time information to the free-to-use Victron Remote Management platform VRM. This allows engineers to answer questions and make changes without even visiting site – particularly useful for customer-facing businesses who need solutions immediately, regardless of their remote location.

On sunny days the system is easily able to provide the (up to) 150kWh of energy the site consumes daily, but during periods of dull or cloudy weather when the battery falls below a pre-determined % state of charge, a 90kVA generator will be started automatically. The generator meets fluctuating power demand whilst all excess power generated is used to charge the batteries up to the predetermined % State of Charge – at which point the generator is automatically shut down.

From the following graph available on VRM we can see that about half the resort’s daily power requirement is met from the ZYC battery bank.

Comparing the recent and more historic pie-graphs of this recently installed system, dependence on the generator appears to have been reduced by up to 90%.

Speaking on their website, Laura says:

Can Font de Muntanya is a very special project for us, and we have been working on this reality for ten years since the whole family (Judith, Gina, Pol, Laura and Marc) moved to live here. From the very first moment we were guided here, we committed ourselves to breathing life back into this space, where centuries ago it was a working farm.

Here, man and nature have coexisted harmoniously for thousands of years. It’s an environment rich in forest species which has supported charcoal-burners and the world famous cork-production. Today the Gavarres is an unspoilt area of great scenic beauty that has been recognised as an Area of Natural Interest in order to preserve it and so that we can continue to enjoy it enthusiastically but always respectfully.

We hope to see you soon in our home, in Can Font de Muntanya.