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What Renewable Energy Insurance Covers
Renewable energy insurance covers the assets, the construction, the revenue and the liability of businesses that install, build, own or operate solar, battery storage, wind, bioenergy and electric vehicle charging systems, from a rooftop installer to a developer of utility scale projects. The sector is young, the assets are specialised and the insurance has to follow the project from contract to operation.
The losses are technical. A rooftop installation fails and the house catches fire. A battery goes into thermal runaway. Hail destroys a field of panels. An inverter fault stops a plant and the revenue stops with it. A design error reduces the yield the financier was promised. A contractor is injured working at height on a roof or a tower. Each lands on a different policy, and the gaps between them are where claims get lost.
Installers work under electrical licensing and the Clean Energy Council accreditation scheme, and most contracts with retailers, builders and project owners require public liability insurance at a set limit and products liability for the systems installed. Developers need contract works insurance through construction and an operational policy with business interruption insurance written on energy revenue once the plant is commissioned.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges renewable energy insurance for installers, developers and asset owners across Australia from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn, as part of our business insurance range. We look at the technology, the contracts, the stage of the project and the revenue model before approaching the specialist insurers who write this class, and we map where construction cover ends and operational cover begins.
Who this covers
Businesses in this group include:
- Solar installers and retailers
- Battery storage and EV charging businesses
- Commercial and industrial solar developers
- Utility scale project developers and owners
- Operations and maintenance contractors
- Energy consultants and engineers
If your business is not listed, ask us. The sections below are the starting point for any business in the group.
Renewable Energy Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Renewable Energy Insurance FAQs
Public liability at the limit retailers and builders require, products liability for the systems installed, tools and equipment, commercial motor for the vans, and personal accident for sole traders working at height. Installers who design systems add professional indemnity. Workers compensation is compulsory for every employer and sits separately. A business insurance package carries the office and the stock.
Contract works covers the project through construction, including equipment in transit and in storage, and usually a delay in start-up section for financed projects. At commissioning the asset moves to an operational policy covering the plant, mechanical and electrical breakdown, and business interruption on the energy revenue. The handover date between the two policies has to be written down and agreed.
Where the installer is legally liable for the fire, yes: products liability responds to injury and property damage caused by the system after installation, including a fire that spreads from a faulty connection or a battery. Insurers rate installers on accreditation, the brands installed and the commissioning records, and some wordings limit battery storage, so the exposure has to be declared.
Yes. Thermal runaway and fire are the issues insurers focus on, for batteries in storage, in transit, during installation and in operation. Property cover needs the battery stock declared, liability wordings need to be checked for battery exclusions, and larger storage projects carry fire engineering and separation conditions. The specialist markets for grid scale storage are small and the submission has to be complete.
Professional indemnity for yield assessments, system design, grid connection advice and project management, with a retroactive date that covers past projects, because a yield shortfall can be claimed years after commissioning. Public liability for site visits and cyber insurance for the data and the monitoring systems the consultant accesses round it out.
Renewable wordings turn on technology exclusions, the construction to operation handover, revenue definitions and the conditions on batteries and height work. FRS helps you disclose the technology and the contracts accurately, structure cover for each stage of a project, compare the specialist insurers who write renewable energy and act as your advocate at claim time, including the technical argument about cause.
Talk to a broker about Renewable Energy Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about renewable energy insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.