It is almost the end of February 2026, and we’ve already had some wonderfully sunny and warm days. It makes it tempting to think that winter is over. We know better, of course — last year we still had cold days well into May. But from a solar power perspective , we can safely say: winter is behind us. Naturally, the first question is: how did it go? Was there enough energy? That question can be answered in many ways. We knew in advance that we would not have enough energy during winter — and that was by design. To generate sufficient solar power on the shortest day of the year, December 21st, we would need so many panels that for the rest of the year we’d be drowning in excess energy. On top of that, such a system would simply be far too expensive. In winter, we don’t just get less sun — we also need more energy . As temperatures drop, we try to heat the houses as much as possible using electricity. Demand goes up exactly when production goes down. And then there’s the heat pumps...
And then it was the summer of 2025, the moment we have been saying for some years that we would move to Spain and so we did! On the 18th of august Maaike, Trisa and Riva left by train to move to Spain. Tibor was finishing his job at ANWB and followed on the 5th of September. leaving from amsterdam cs The first weeks were holiday times. Which for the kids meant spending a lot of time at the yurt, with Mirthe, Rick and Vos, working on an art project with Sanny and swimming in the river. For Maaike it meant making the big house more livable, improving the water supply and arranging stuff like insurance, permits and school stuff.We also received the keys of our rented apartment in Briviesca and we made some trips with the Bakfiets. That was fun, we were quite a show for the Spanish people who saw us cycling. Trisa with Cynthia, second hand shopping in Burgos , in the yurt, harvesting salt with Carlos, getting water in Castil de Lences , more water pipes for more ...