Hail or High Water: The rising scale of Extreme Weather and Natural Catastrophe losses in Renewable Energy is GCube’s latest client report,  covering the rising frequency and severity of claims due to traditional Natural Catastrophe and the emerging threat of Extreme Weather.

The risk profile of renewable energy assets continues to change, with the average weather-related solar loss almost 2400% higher than the average non-weather-related solar loss in 2019. While Natural Catastrophes such as windstorms, earthquakes, and flooding have contributed to this increase, the value of claims caused by emerging, unmodelled Extreme Weather threats is twice as high than for traditional Nat Cat since 2015. A lack of historic data around Extreme Weather events has resulted in projects being built in locations more hazardous than previously expected, increasing losses for both wind and solar.

This, in turn, has had a significant impact on the insurance market, particularly in the US, where a long-overdue ‘reset’ is underway following years of soft market conditions.

“No market can continually operate at a loss, and renewables is no exception” – Fraser McLachlan, CEO, GCube

Hail or High Water includes:

• Claims data from across the insurance industry for losses due to Natural Catastrophes and Extreme Weather since 2010
• An interview with Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, Lead Research Scientist for UL, on risk zones for Natural Peril across the US
• Advice for wind and solar project owners, developers, operators, and contractors for managing risk and ensuring full protection of assets