As investment in solar accelerates, developers and insurers have had to improve site-specific and region-specific extreme weather risk profiles of projects.
This paper will focus on the often-tandem risk of extreme wind and large hail, a comparison of active stow vs. passive mitigation tracker extreme weather risk response strategies, and their effects on commercial insurance costs and coverage.
The recent documented trend of increasingly costly extreme wind and hail disasters is having an effect on the availability and rates of commercial insurance for PV plant stakeholders, creating:
- A focus on weather resiliency affecting the bankability of utility-scale PV projects
- The demand for extreme weather resiliency testing, analysis, and documentation of the equipment that comprise a PV plant, and
- An examination on “Insurance value” of cost-effective strategies that mitigate the combined effects of wind and hail.
