Renewable Energy - The ES Risks Specialist Series

At ES Risks, our business is built around specialist insurance. The kind of risks that do not sit neatly in a box and cannot be placed without experience, judgement and strong market relationships.

In this series, our specialists share a personal view of their world. Not product brochures or market soundbites, but real insight into the risks they place, the challenges they navigate, and what specialist broking actually looks like inside the Lloyd’s and international market.

Each blog is written by the specialist who does the work. By Francesca Blunt

We often talk about renewable energy as if it is one sector. It is not.

From the outside, it appears straightforward. A clear global trend, familiar technologies and strong capital flows moving in one direction. But that view misses what actually matters.

Behind the headlines sits a fragmented and highly specialised landscape. Offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, battery storage and data centres all behave differently. Each carries its own exposures and each responds differently under pressure.

Right now, that distinction matters more than ever.

A significant share of the world’s oil still moves through the Strait of Hormuz. When that route comes under strain, the impact is immediate. Prices move, supply tightens and energy security becomes a live issue.

Renewable energy is no longer just part of a long-term transition narrative. It is increasingly central to how countries think about resilience. Governments and investors are not just backing renewables because they are cleaner. They are backing them because they reduce reliance on concentrated and vulnerable supply routes. They diversify energy systems and reduce exposure to external shocks.

That shift is accelerating development.

Projects are being delivered more quickly. Capital is being deployed at pace. Supply chains stretch across multiple regions, often with limited tolerance for delay. From the outside, that looks like progress. From a risk perspective, it creates a more demanding environment.

What This Looks Like in Practice

In practice, much of my work involves bridging the gap between how these projects are presented and how they are understood by the insurance market.

Two projects may appear similar at a headline level, but the underlying risk profile can differ significantly depending on design, contractual structure and operational approach. A large part of the role is identifying those differences early and ensuring they are clearly articulated to underwriters.

That often means focusing on the elements that are not immediately visible. Where delays genuinely sit within a construction programme. How revenue is generated and protected. Where contractual risk transfer does or does not align with the insurance structure.

Getting that right has a direct impact on both pricing and coverage, particularly in a market where underwriting discipline remains high.

A Fragmented and Complex Risk Landscape

Take offshore wind.

It is often described as a mature asset class, but it remains heavily exposed during construction. Installation windows are narrow and weather dependent. Vessel availability is constrained and foundation design varies significantly depending on seabed conditions.

A delay is not simply a scheduling issue. It can affect revenue projections, financing covenants and contractual obligations across multiple parties. Understanding how those elements interact is critical when structuring insurance.

Onshore wind presents a different set of challenges. Terrain, access and logistics can be just as influential as the turbines themselves. In certain regions, natural catastrophe exposures such as windstorm, wildfire or icing become central considerations.

Solar is often seen as straightforward, but at scale the detail becomes important. Ground conditions, mounting systems, cable routing and inverter quality all influence long-term performance. Small issues can develop into systemic losses across large sites.

Battery storage is where perception and reality diverge most clearly. It is often grouped neatly within renewable energy, but its risk profile is fundamentally different. Thermal runaway, fire propagation and the potential for total loss events mean that design and configuration are critical.

Data centres, increasingly linked to renewable generation, introduce another dimension. These are high-value environments where downtime is often more critical than physical damage. Power resilience, cooling systems and redundancy design become central to the risk.

Across all of these asset classes, one theme is consistent. The detail matters.

Beyond a Generalist Approach

This is where generalist approaches begin to fall short.

Two projects that look similar on paper can behave very differently in practice. The way a project is designed, constructed, financed and operated will often have more influence on the risk than the headline technology itself.

Understanding that requires more than access to the insurance market. It requires the ability to interpret how technical, contractual and financial elements connect.

During construction, that might mean identifying what truly sits on the critical path and how delays translate into financial exposure. Delay in start up cover is not simply an add on. In many cases, it is central to the financial structure of the project.

Once operational, the risk shifts but does not necessarily reduce. Performance variability, weather patterns and grid constraints all influence revenue. Some risks develop gradually over time through design limitations, wear and environmental factors.

Insurance sits within that broader context.

It is not just about securing cover. It is about ensuring that the structure of that cover reflects how the asset performs, how revenue is generated and how risk is allocated contractually.

The Role of Specialist Broking

This is where specialist brokers add real value.

It is not simply about placement. It is about translating a diverse and strategically important set of assets into something the insurance market can understand and price appropriately.

It also involves judgement. Markets move. Capacity tightens. Terms evolve and appetite shifts.

In those conditions, decisions become more important. Where it is worth pushing for broader cover. Where it is more pragmatic to accept a limitation and manage the exposure elsewhere. How the insurance programme supports the long-term resilience of the asset rather than simply meeting immediate requirements.

A Sector That Demands Expertise

Renewable energy is no longer niche infrastructure. It is central to how economies are powering themselves, and that brings visibility from investors, lenders and regulators alike.

Insurance is part of that scrutiny.

The projects being built today will operate for decades. Decisions made at placement, around coverage, structure and assumptions, have lasting consequences.

In that environment, specialist broking is not an added layer. It is a necessary one.

Because the real challenge is no longer simply insuring renewable energy. It is understanding how a rapidly expanding, strategically important and inherently varied set of assets behaves under pressure, and ensuring that this is properly reflected in how risk is transferred.

That is the difference between a programme that simply exists, and one that actually works.

This article forms part of the ES Risks Specialist Series, where our brokers and technical specialists share insight into complex, non-standard risks across the Lloyd’s market.

If you would like to discuss a specialist or unusual risk, or simply want to continue the conversation, please get in touch with the ES Risks team.