Do I Buy Wind Turbine Insurance Policy?
5:42 AM
Do not buy a wind turbine without knowing about possible insurance requirements from your local power company. Hardly anyone has ever heard about insurance being required for a wind turbine until after they spend the money building one.
Before I go on, you are probably wondering why insurance is even needed. It is not some conspiracy by energy companies to torture you for wanting to install your own wind turbine or solar panels. Whether you need additional insurance or not all comes down to how you are wiring up your wind turbine or solar panel system. If you are using a battery bank and not selling your power back to the power company, then you need not worry about having additional insurance coverage. The only time you are going to need additional insurance is if you are wiring your wind turbine up to the power grid in order to make your meter "run backwards".
More and more electric companies are requiring additional insurance protection: in most cases, a million dollar insurance policy if you connect your system to the power grid. Texas is one such state.
My friend who lives in Texas had this problem. He was shocked when his local power company told him he needed a million dollar insurance policy before connecting to the power grid. He called insurance company after insurance company asking about a wind turbine insurance policy and everyone told him they did not sell such a policy. He really wanted to sell power back to the power company and not just use a battery bank to power things in his own house.
Here is how we solved the problem. You need to call your local power company and tell them that you want a reverse meter so that they can measure the amount of energy you are feeding back into the power grid in order to assign you proper credit. There is specific wiring that you need to use that must be approved by your county. They require this specific wiring so that your system does not electrocute a lineman who is working on a line somewhere down from your wind or solar power generator.
There is no such thing as a million dollar insurance policy for your wind turbine or solar panels. You get an umbrella policy on your homeowner's insurance. An umbrella policy is property insurance that goes beyond what the homeowner's insurance covers. This is also sometimes called secondary insurance. You can google this to find a company that will sell this to you.
There are standards that exist for how you wire up your wind turbine or solar panel system to the power grid. You must have an automatic transfer switch that disconnects you from the power grid in case of a power outage. You also must stay "in phase" with the power grid at all times. There are many "How to buy a wind turbine and install it" books available that tell you how to do these things.
Before I go on, you are probably wondering why insurance is even needed. It is not some conspiracy by energy companies to torture you for wanting to install your own wind turbine or solar panels. Whether you need additional insurance or not all comes down to how you are wiring up your wind turbine or solar panel system. If you are using a battery bank and not selling your power back to the power company, then you need not worry about having additional insurance coverage. The only time you are going to need additional insurance is if you are wiring your wind turbine up to the power grid in order to make your meter "run backwards".
More and more electric companies are requiring additional insurance protection: in most cases, a million dollar insurance policy if you connect your system to the power grid. Texas is one such state.
My friend who lives in Texas had this problem. He was shocked when his local power company told him he needed a million dollar insurance policy before connecting to the power grid. He called insurance company after insurance company asking about a wind turbine insurance policy and everyone told him they did not sell such a policy. He really wanted to sell power back to the power company and not just use a battery bank to power things in his own house.
Here is how we solved the problem. You need to call your local power company and tell them that you want a reverse meter so that they can measure the amount of energy you are feeding back into the power grid in order to assign you proper credit. There is specific wiring that you need to use that must be approved by your county. They require this specific wiring so that your system does not electrocute a lineman who is working on a line somewhere down from your wind or solar power generator.
There is no such thing as a million dollar insurance policy for your wind turbine or solar panels. You get an umbrella policy on your homeowner's insurance. An umbrella policy is property insurance that goes beyond what the homeowner's insurance covers. This is also sometimes called secondary insurance. You can google this to find a company that will sell this to you.
There are standards that exist for how you wire up your wind turbine or solar panel system to the power grid. You must have an automatic transfer switch that disconnects you from the power grid in case of a power outage. You also must stay "in phase" with the power grid at all times. There are many "How to buy a wind turbine and install it" books available that tell you how to do these things.
About the Author:
Written by Sean Hernandez. Build your own wind power generator in one weekend in your backyard! For the easiest guides on how to make and install a wind turbine, see my reviews at buy wind turbine
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