Climate insurance provider adds property and BESS capacity with leading carrier

Climate insurance provider adds property and BESS capacity with leading carrier | Insurance Business America

Property

Climate insurance provider adds property and BESS capacity with leading carrier

Extended coverage for solar, wind, and energy storage projects

Property

By
Kenneth Araullo

Climate insurance provider kWh Analytics has announced an expansion in its capacity agreement with Aspen Insurance, which increases the underwriting capacity of kWh Analytics to up to $75 million for each renewable energy project location.

This expanded capacity covers up to 100% of operational solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects and extends to 50% of wind projects and projects under construction.

The announcement also marks a significant milestone, coming a year after kWh Analytics and Aspen initially partnered in January 2023 to provide property insurance underwriting and capacity for renewable energy assets. With the capacity increase, kWh Analytics and Aspen now count four of the top 10 global re/insurance partners in their collaborative network, they claimed.

The renewable energy sector has faced challenges in recent years, including reduced insurance limits and significant cost increases for asset owners. These challenges underscore the need for innovative risk management and underwriting solutions.

kWh Analytics hopes to address this need by utilizing its proprietary database, which encompasses over 300,000 renewable energy assets, to price and underwrite risk transfer products accurately and reward asset owners for resilience measures. This year, the company introduced a microcracking endorsement for solar assets, aimed at simplifying the insurance claims process for solar module damage, a prevalent but challenging issue to assess.

It has also committed to leveraging data not only for underwriting purposes but also to promote resilient design practices and understand common failure modes among existing solar PV projects. These insights are then shared with clients and across the industry to support the ongoing development of renewable energy projects.

Jason Kaminsky, CEO of kWh Analytics, highlighted the importance of the capacity increase, noting that it is a strong indicator of confidence in the company’s data and sophisticated modeling capabilities.

“Adding capacity enables us to expand coverage options for responsible asset owners, supporting renewable energy growth amid worsening natural disasters by incentivizing resilience and bridging the protection gap,” Kaminsky said.

Josh Jennings, SVP and head of inland marine at Aspen Insurance, also commented on the continued collaboration with kWh Analytics.

“This increased capacity provides additional options for asset owners who are proactively designing, building, and maintaining resilient assets, and it further strengthens our commitment with kWh Analytics to offer solutions for the growing demands of the renewable energy market,” Jennings said.

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