Hawaii Sunlight Hours & Renewable Energy Information
Quick Green Energy Summary for Hawaii
Sunlight
State Sunlight Rank: 5/50
Average Annual Sunlight Hours: 2800 hours
Clear Days: 90 days per year
Summer Peak Sun Hours: 6.71 hours per day
Winter Peak Sun Hours: 5.59 hours per day
Average Peak Sun Hours 
: 6.02 hours per day
: Wind
State Wind Rank : 3/50
Average Annual Wind Speed: 0.31 miles per hour
More Information on Hawaii Green Energy
Hawaii has very high energy costs, so solar power is a great option for business and homeowners. Hawaii ranks 5th amongst US states for amount of peak sun hours per day, which definitely helps make a solar power system a great alternative to those high grid electricity costs.
Hawaii’s energy costs can sometimes be triple or higher than the energy costs of the mainland, this helped Hawaii become the first state in the US to reach grid parity, meaning that the alternative source of solar power can produce electricity at or even lower than the cost of buying electricity from the grid.
Hawaii has a couple very large solar farms that take advantage of the higher levels of peak sun hours on the island, but there are also very good tax incentives to get a solar power system for your home.
A fixed tilt solar panel does not change angles to adjust with the sun, so looking at the average peak sun hours using a fixed tilt panel can set a good baseline for calculations. On average, the state of Hawaii receives 6.02 daily peak sun hours.
This number obviously changes if you were to drill down and examine the peak sunlight hours on a daily basis because of the number of factors that can affect a solar panels ability. Natural factors, such as cloud coverage, weather, time of year and much more all impact the daily sun light hours and amount of solar insolation. Not every hour of sunlight will be converted at the same efficiency ratio, so it can help to look at the average when planning for your year.