Are you still unsure if solar energy is the right move for you, your family, or maybe even your business? There are so many advantages to solar technology, some of which you might not have thought about.  Of course the first advantage that nearly all of us seek with solar is COST SAVINGS.  Energy here in Hawaii is very expensive for all of us. Solar technology helps to reduce those costs!  Solar Hot Water, for example will reduce your monthly HECO bill between $20-$25/month for each person in your home. Solar/PV systems, with the current CGS+ program from HECO can typically cut your monthly HECO bill by 60-80% (depending on your day-time versus night-time energy consumption patterns). And Solar/PV with batteries have the potential of reducing your HECO bill to the very minimum service fee (depending on the system of system installed and the kWh consumptions of your home or business).

Besides cost savings, the other advantages to solar technology include the increase in value to you home/business, the confidence of having power when/if the grid goes down (only with the Enphase Ensemble), and benefit to our planet by helping to reduce carbon emissions through the use of sustainable solutions.

Reducing energy costs for your business or your home is typically the #1 reason that most people pursue solar solutions in Hawaii. Is energy savings in Honolulu the primary motivation for you? With continued federal and state tax incentives in Hawaii, and with years of competitive manufacturing, solar technology from SolarTech Industries will provide you with substantial energy savings.

As a local company, we have helped thousands of homeowners and businesses realize substantial energy savings with Photovoltaic (PV) Solar and Solar Hot Waterl on Oahu. Both of these technologies offer very cost effective, long-term energy solutions to Hawaii families and businesses alike.

A primary reason for substantial, long-term energy savings is that Solar PV, for example, can typically produce the majority of all the energy needed in your home or business every day.

That means substantially lowering your dependence on energy provided by HECO. By investing in a Solar PV system in Honolulu or anywhere on Oahu, you can typically cut your energy bill substantially and protect yourself against the inflationary rate hikes of energy from HECO in the future.

An investment in Oahu solar panels today will typically result in fully paying off your investment with the savings in typically 6-10 years. From that point on, all of the money you are saving on your energy bills is money that stays in your own pocket.

Living in Hawaii, we all know that energy costs are higher here than anywhere else in the US. This means that when you buy solar in Honolulu you are ‘off-setting’ a much larger energy cost than anywhere else in the nation.

Because of our location, in Hawaii, we are accustomed to paying more for a lot of things. When you invest in solar on Oahu, you are able to see a much higher return on your investment by off-setting such a large percentage of that typical energy cost.

If you are a business owner or building owner, you are also painfully aware that the cost of electricity is a major annual line item in your operating costs. If you have any reasonable amount of roof space (even if some modifications are required), Solar PV will have a substantially positive impact on your net operating costs over the next 25 years. If you are a restaurant, care facility, fitness center, or other business that utilizes a large amount of hot water, Solar Hot Water can substantially lower your HECO bills each month.

When you run the numbers on your investment into solar solutions and are able to maximize the tax credits and depreciation, few investments have an equal Return On Investment to what solar can provide .

This is why the pursuit and realization of Solar energy savings is one of the biggest reasons why more and more Oahu home and business owners are making the switch to clean solar energy in Hawaii.

Going green with SolarTech on Oahu is also an important advantage of making the switch to solar technology here in Hawaii. From our location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we are very aware of the effects that climate change is having on rising sea levels. Each of us in Hawaii can take steps with cost-effective solar solutions that help to reduce the amount of carbon we are emitting into the environment. Implementing Solar PV and Solar Thermal solutions is helping us make large strides for the plant and especially for all of us who call Hawaii our home.

With the obvious impacts that we have seen on Oahu from ‘king tides’ over the last few years, we know that sea levels have started to rise due to the melting ice caused by global warming. We see our critical coral reefs beginning to die because of rising ocean temperatures. And we all feel the heat as we watch hundreds of heat records across our Hawaiian islands be broken. It is critical that we reduce our use of carbon-based fuels to produce the energy that we need. Solar PV, Solar Thermal, and Solar Powered Batteries are all technologies that can help us do this!   AND these technologies are also very financially beneficial for all of us in Hawaii.

Promising to make changed later isn’t going to be enough. Our planet needs us to start making big life changes in order to reduce the carbon we are producing that is harming the world around us. Starting with making the change to solar in Honolulu, on Oahu, and across Hawaii, is critical to helping our environment.

But, as mentioned, that isn’t the only advantage of solar technology. There are financial benefits that WILL actually help you save money once you make the switch to solar in Hawaii.

For a number of years, and continuing into the foreseeable future, our state of Hawaii has helped to make the switch to solar a little more appealing for everyday homeowners and for small and large businesses through tax credits that help to off-set the cost of purchasing solar systems. For PV (Photovoltaic) the Hawaii solar energy state tax credit is called the Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit (RETITC). The RETITC includes up to a 35% credit of the total cost or $5,000 per system (whichever is less).

You can choose to receive this amount as a tax credit or a possible tax refund. That is a fair amount off of the initial cost of your solar system. The best part about the state tax incentives is that there is currently no expiration date.

Federal tax credits are at 26% for 2020 and are scheduled to be reduced over the next several years. 

If you are purchasing solar as a business, there are additional tax incentives available through depreciation that further help to increase your return on investment on solar.  SolarTech Industries is not qualified to provide tax advise. Furthermore, SolarTech Industries encourages all of our customers to seek the advise of their CPA or tax professional for all solar tax credits/incentives before making a solar purchase.

With all of these existing tax incentives offered to so many, there has never been a better time to consider making the switch to solar in Hawaii or upgrading your existing solar system. Solar on Oahu has never been more affordable than it is right now. On top of the reduction in price and solar tax incentives, there are still more amazing ways that solar energy can benefit you and your finances.

If you have been starting to look into solar energy you’ve probably come across both solar PV and solar Thermal (most popular is ‘Solar Hot Water’) content on websites. You’re probably thinking to yourself, “what exactly is the difference and does it even matter?”

The big difference is that solar PV (photovoltaic) PRODUCES energy and solar hot water helps you REDUCE energy consumption. Therefore, BOTH be deployed simultaneously (and with excellent results) at your home and/or business to work in concert towards your goals of lowering energy costs here in Hawaii.

Solar Thermal technology utilizes the sun to capture heat for specific energy-saving advantages. As mentioned the most common use of Solar Thermal on Oahu and across our Hawaiian islands is Solar Hot Water systems. With solar hot water, solar ‘collector’ panels are placed on your roof and water is pumped into and through the panels. During daylight hours the sun obviously heats this water. This very hot water is stored in a solar hot water tank that looks and acts very much like your electric hot water tank. Except that with a solar hot water tank, the upper 1/2 of the tank is holding all the SOLAR hot water. The lower 1/2 of this tank has an electric heating element that will turn on only if/when your tank runs out of solar hot water. Through this method, and by carefully sizing the solar collectors on your roof and the number/size of your tank(s), you can substantially reduce the amount of electricity that you use to heat up your water at home or at your business.

Modern solar hot water technologies have been in use for several decades. Solar hot water here in Hawaii is very cost-effective and highly incentivized. In addition to State Tax incentives, there are also Hawaii Energy incentives that help to make your Solar hot water investment in Honolulu very attractive.

Solar PV, on the other hand, is a technology that produces electricity by converting solar radiation into Direct Current (DC) voltage. This DC power is then converted to Alternating Current (AC) power, and able to be used directly by the energy-consuming elements of your home and/or business. In this way, solar PV has a much broader impact on off-setting the total energy consumption of your home or business.

This technology has also been used and refined for decades. The result is ‘tried and tested’ solar PV system components (solar panels, inverters, optimizers, switches, and monitoring devices) from many very reputable manufactures who have been perfecting these components ability to pull out the maximum amount of AC power from solar radiation.  And in Hawaii, we are obviously fortunate to receive an abundance of free solar radiation.  proven Solar PV components on Oahu that is highly efficient, very cost-effective, and that you can trust for dramatically reducing your energy costs.

With both Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Solar Thermal every homeowner or business owner looking into solar on Oahu can find long-term savings that will typically last for decades. Trying to search for all the information out there in order to make the most informed decision possible can be very challenging. As you consider this investment, SolarTech Industries is here to help you synthesis the information so that you can make an informed decision.

With Solar Hot Water, if you have more than 2 people in your home and/or if your usage of hot water typically exceeds 80 gallons per day, Solar Hot Water is a great cost-savings solar technology in Hawaii. The system costs, coupled with tax incentives and Hawaii Energy rebates make Solar Hot Water very affordable in Honolulu.

Additionally, Solar Hot Water systems are typically lasting well over 15 years. When well maintained, Solar Hot Water owners are finding their systems lasting between 20-30+ years here in Hawaii. This is a great lifespan and a trustworthy solution for utilizing the abundance of sunshine in Hawaii to help you reduce carbon emissions and save money on monthly energy bills.

When it comes to Solar Photovoltaic (PV) on Oahu, the lifespan vs cost is again very attractive. Thanks to many years of competitive manufacturing, coupled with continued federal and state tax incentives in Hawaii, Solar PV can typically be purchased for around $4 per kW. Most reputable solar panel manufacturers that SolarTech installs offer 25-year warranties on the panel production capacity.

As a homeowner or business owner considering a Solar PV purchase on Oahu, these factors combine to provide you with a per kWh cost of typically less than $0.15 per kWh over the life on the system. Looking at your recent HECO bill and doing the simple math, you can see that Solar PV is a much less expensive energy solution for your Hawaii home and/or business. If/when you realize the tax incentives, the cost per kWh goes down that much more.

Solar power and the production of solar in Honolulu is incredibly efficient. Because of the amount of sunny days that we get here in Hawaii, solar on Oahu is a great option for energy production. But many of our customers ask, “what solar system provides the most savings; Solar/PV or Solar Hot Water?”

There are several factors that go into the answer to that question. First of all, solar hot water is considered an energy SAVING solution while solar/PV is an energy PRODUCING solution. So, it is a little bit like ‘comparing APPLES with ORANGES’. But regardless, both of these solar systems WILL have the net effect of reducing the amount of power that you must purchase from HECO each month. Solar hot water almost always makes good financial sense if/when you have more than two (2) people living in your home. In these cases, it almost always makes more sense to purchase and install solar hot water to REDUCE your energy consumption and then you’ll be able to reduce the number of solar/PV panels that are necessary to off-set your total power consumption.  Part of the reason for this is the fact that solar hot water technology has been around for a long time and the costs for the equipment and the installation are relatively low. Also, Hawaii Energy offers rebates that helps to further drive down the cost to you as the customer. And finally, solar hot water can be stored for many hours after the sun goes down. Therefore, even after the sun is long gone, you can still benefit from the energy that it has transferred into the water (depending on the size of tank).

However, solar hot water systems do not produce power (kW) for all the other electronic items in your home. Therefore, solar/PV energy production has a much broader effectiveness (provides more savings) towards off-setting the energy consumption of ALL your home energy consumers, such as; lights, televisions, clothes washer/dryer, computers, dishwasher, microwave, air conditioners, etc. 

The bottom line is that the more people you are serving with hot water every day, the more important it is for you to deploy BOTH of these solar technologies.  If there are only 1-2 people in your home or small business, (or if your business uses very little hot water) then it is more likely that solar/PV alone could be the wisest energy investment here in Hawaii.  

One really great thing about PV solar is that you can still receive credit from HECO on the power (kWhs) that your solar/PV panels produce and/or your solar batteries store, if your home does not consume this power. HECO has offered several different programs in the past where they provided different amounts of credits to us as consumers.  Currently there are two (2) HECO programs that offer these credits; HECO; CGS+ and HECO Smart Export 

Solar credit rates from HECO vary on each island (Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii Island). Regardless of which island your solar/PV system will be installed, the credits are not substantial enough for you to expect a very quick return on your investment if you purchase solar/PV with the intent to sell power back to HECO.  Rather, these programs should primarily be considered a ‘bonus credit’ for small amounts of ‘over production’ that your solar/PV system may have on some days. 

At SolarTech Industries our goal is to ‘rightly size’ your solar/PV system so that you get the maximum production out of it (matching your consumption rates) and the maximum value from that production. 

 

There are many reasons to choose PV solar energy for your property on Oahu. The state of Hawaii wants to push for more solar energy means and wants to reduce the number of carbon emissions this great state produces.

Saving the planet, the animals, and the people who live here is why solar energy is so important. Choosing photovoltaic solar energy can help you to reduce the number of carbon emissions that you produce more efficiently than other solar energy means.

PV is more affordable than ever with the number of tax credits you can receive and it is more efficient at producing energy. This means PV is also more efficient at saving you money by reducing the amount of standard energy you use and by selling excess energy back to the power grid.

With all of the benefits that PV solar has to offer to make the switch has never been easier and more affordable. So what are you waiting for? Call us today to get a free estimate and start saving your money and the planet with PV solar energy panels.