By Ariana Fine | SolarIndustryMag.com
To help installers meet the growing demand for more complex solar and storage systems, Sungage Financial is providing residential solar financing for up to $200,000 per project. The need derives from increasing demand for large solar systems with significant energy storage capacity often found in multigenerational households. These extended family households are not only using more energy, but they are also pursuing solar energy and storage autonomy.
The number of people living in multigenerational housing has quadrupled in the past 30 years, reaching nearly 60 million, or 18% of the U.S. population, according to PEW research. Sungage Financial, a residential solar finance company operating in 45 states, first noticed this emerging trend and need for higher solar financing options in Hawaii.
Financial savings, caregiving for both elderly and children, sharing of chores, and rising property prices are among the key reasons cited for choosing multigenerational living, which most adults find very rewarding. In Hawaii, this idea goes even deeper with historic roots dating back to the concept of ohanas – families helping raise each other’s keiki (children) to give them a more complete cultural background.
“Ohana is a very important part of our culture,“ Kim Keahiolalo of Sungage Financial’s Hawaii office explains. “It’s about fostering love and lasting relationships with our extended families in addition to the economic and social benefits. Having all these people and so many kids in the household means that they are all going to cook, do laundry, and go about life’s business, which uses a lot of energy.”
“Financing to meet the energy needs of our extended family homes makes their switch to solar more easily attainable, helping families offset Hawaii’s high utility bills with manageable fixed solar loan payments that are not subject to ever-increasing rates,” says Tyler Erickson of Skyta Solar and Roofing, one of Hawaii’s solar companies and a long-time Sungage Financial partner.