Why Not Take Advantage of Hawaii's Sunshine and Create Free Energy?

Residents of Hawaii enjoy a climate that’s ideal for outdoor entertaining and other leisure activities. Another advantage of Hawaii’s sunshine is the potential for generating clean, free electrical power.  Hawaii homeowners who are considering installing solar panels may wish to talk to an insurance agent about how solar generating facilities are covered by Hawaii home insurance.

There are now a number of incentives and solar rebates that significantly reduce the cost of installing solar panels in Hawaii. Homeowners currently have two options: to install a solar power system that provides all of a home’s energy needs and feeds back surplus energy to the power grid, or to install solar panels to heat the hot water required for the home.

A solar generating system that sends surplus energy back to the power grid may be particularly beneficial for Hawaii homeowners. This is because in Hawaii, customers are able to take advantage of net electric meter reading and receive the full retail energy rate for the electricity they generate and sell; since retail electricity rates are high in Hawaii, customers are likely to find that their solar power systems pay for themselves within a short time.

Hawaii homeowners who do not want to install a full grid-connected solar facility may be interested in installing solar water heating facilities; because 30-40% of household energy consumption is used for heating water, free solar energy hot water can produce considerable savings on energy bills.

Homeowners who install solar electricity systems that feed to the grid are required to enter into interconnection agreements with the utility company. Interconnection agreements typically have minimum insurance requirements; ask your insurer or agent whether your Hawaii home insurance policy satisfies these requirements.
 

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