Newport Beach, California, 10 August 2022: GCube Insurance Ltd^® (GCube), a member of the Tokio Marine HCC group of companies and a leading underwriter for renewable energy projects, announces the opening of its Houston office headed up by new senior appointment, Sarah Bratton.

Joining from Ascot Underwriting with over ten years’ experience in the energy and power generation underwriting business, Sarah underwrites property and casualty insurance coverage for renewable energy risks, with a particular focus on solar and wind.

Alongside Sarah’s appointment in Houston, GCube has also bolstered its underwriting ranks with two new graduate hires in its existing US offices. Kate White and Savannah Coull join the underwriting teams from GCube’s parent company Tokio Marine HCC’s Accelerate Programme, reporting to Michael Galea in New York and Rosa Van Reyk in Newport Beach, respectively.

The raft of new hires follows GCube’s expansion of its global claims team in June, as well as a series of senior appointments and internal promotions – continuing GCube’s campaign of investment in recruiting and developing the best renewable energy underwriting talent.

Sarah’s appointment in Houston is timely as the US grapples with record temperatures and extreme weather, with solar power proving a key lifeline for Texas in easing pressure on the strained electricity grid.

“The situation in Texas is a picture-perfect example of the transforming risks for the entire energy landscape,” commented Fraser McLachlan, CEO of GCube. “Dependence on solar power is paying dividends in supporting the state-wide distribution of power, but the extreme weather risk to solar must be managed effectively to preserve this.

“GCube reported last year that wildfire damage to solar arrays throughout the 2010s resulted in millions of dollars in losses, and accounted for half of all extreme weather claims across the decade. Solar owners who don’t appropriately manage the evolving size and severity of wildfire risk in the US leave their assets vulnerable to considerably higher losses – and with the ongoing global supply squeeze for solar components, both costs and wait times for replacement technologies drives the price tag to unsustainable, and never-before-seen heights.

“Only human ingenuity has the capacity and ability to match pace with the rapid fluctuation of risks and challenges facing the market – and this is why investing in our people is so central to our ethos. In cultivating the best talent, whether developing from the ground up or recruiting the industry’s star performers, and deploying this talent where is it needed most, we ensure all our clients and customers can access the highest quality network of expertise to support them in managing asset risk and operability.”