insurance

The renewable industry is facing a perfect storm of factors leading to tighter business interruption and equipment breakdown insurance terms.

The Q2 2023 edition of our downstream solar journal, PV Tech Power, is now available to download.

Property insurance for a solar project, having been an easy “check the box” issue 10 years ago, is fast becoming a top credit item for securing financing from banks, according to the head of a data analytics and insurtech firm.

San Francisco-based data analytics and insurtech firm kWh Analytics has partnered with Aspen Insurance to launch property insurance for renewable energy assets.

The US’s blocked solar supply chain combined with the threat of operational modules being damaged by extreme weather could leave project developers and asset owners at risk of revenue loss as replacement equipment becomes hard to source.

Current testing for solar modules is inadequate to account for the rising severity of extreme weather events in North America, according to a report from renewable energy project underwriter GCube Insurance.

Supply chain woes, spiralling energy prices and the COVID-19 pandemic have reversed the downward trend in average business interruption (BI) claims for renewables developers, with sector-wide average business downtime days up by 38% on 2016.  

Last year analysis by renewables performance aggregator and insurance provider kWh Analytics highlighted the extent of solar asset underperformance against P50 estimates in the US. Here, the company’s Sarath Srinivasan details some of the reasons behind that underperformance.

Solar asset insurer kWh Analytics has raised US$20 million for business expansion and developing additional solutions to support solar and storage asset owners.

Prior to 2019, there was an ample number of insurers willing to provide renewable energy insurance, leading to plentiful, affordable cover being available for solar power project finance transactions. However, with increased claims and risks, price rises and lower availability of cover is impacting the sector. Duncan Gordon, head of Renewable Energy at specialist energy insurance brokerage and risk management firm Gallagher, provides an overview of how solar power project owners can navigate a challenging insurance market.