Do I Buy Wind Turbine Insurance Policy?
Where can you buy wind turbine insurance? First let us cover some basics. Very few people have ever heard of the electric company requiring a million dollar insurance policy. Do not freak out if you are told you need such a policy by your local electric company. You need to know about this insurance requirement before you spend the money on your wind turbine.
In many cases, you do not need extra insurance. Where you need extra insurance coverage is if you are wiring your wind turbine or solar power system to connect to the power grid. If you are running your wind turbine to a battery bank that is never connected to the power grid, then you do not need to spend the money on extra insurance. The electric company has every right to demand that you have a million dollar insurance policy if you are connecting to the power grid.
In a growing number of cities throughout America, a local power company will not let you connect to the power grid unless you can show that you have a million dollar insurance policy. This is common practice in the state of Texas.
A friend of mine wanted to install a wind generator for electricity but the local power company in Texas would not let him connect to the power grid unless he could show that he had a million dollar insurance policy. He called every insurance company he could think of and no one had ever heard of this insurance policy that he can buy. The reason that he wanted to connect directly to the power grid was so that he did not use a battery bank but instead could sell the energy produced back to the electric company.
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.
Do not waste your time calling insurance companies and asking about a wind power or solar power insurance policy. They will just tell you they do not know what you are talking about. What you get is called an umbrella policy on your homeowner’s insurance. Your insurance company might call this secondary insurance. This type of policy goes beyond what your homeowner’s insurance policy covers. Search on the web for an insurance company that sells this type of insurance.
Quality standards exist for how you must connect to the power grid for the safety of everyone such as: staying in phase with the power grid, and a reverse power relay and automatic transfer switch that disconnects you from the power grid in case of a black out. A good “How to make your own wind turbine” book will tell you everything you need to know. If you buy a wind turbine already built, then the manufacturer will tell you what you need to know.
