Component vulnerability, defective designs and changing OEM warranties, coupled with extreme weather damage, have significantly increased the frequency and severity of insurance claims in the U.S. renewable energy market over the last five years. In response, insurers and asset owners must reset their benchmark for renewable energy risks, in line with this higher ‘normal’ loss…
GCube advises project owners to safeguard assets from extreme weather risks
GCube Insurance, a provider of renewable energy insurance services, has highlighted the need for renewables to prepare for out-of-season extreme weather damage. In recent years, extreme weather events such as wildfires and hurricanes have been occurring outside of expected times and locations and increasing in severity. Insurers, including Swiss Re and Munich Re, have reported…
GCube offers cyber risk insurance for renewables
GCube, a provider of renewable energy insurance services, has launched a new Cyber Risk policy, uniquely designed to tackle the specific threats posed to clean energy asset owners by a recent rise in cyberattacks on global power generation and transmission infrastructure. This new offering has been unveiled at the GCube Advisory Council meeting this week…
Risky Business: Mitigating threats to onshore wind projects & portfolios
By Jatin Sharma, Head of Business Development GCube Insurance The wind market is growing — up some 21% globally, according to Global Wind Energy Council — and expanding into new territories. This is good news for the industry, but also means a changing risk profile that can pose a concern for asset owners. For example,…
Hedging against low wind: 5 things you should know about weather risk transfer structures
By Geoffrey Taunton Collins; Weather Risk Analyst GCube Underwriting Ltd. As the global wind sector matures, the risk profile of development and operations is changing rapidly. Once confined to more developed and secure markets, the U.S. wind industry is now facing logistical and technical challenges of building and operating projects offshore, and in testing lower-wind onshore…
GCube: Weather risk accounts for $56 billion in untapped wind-asset values worldwide
Failure to efficiently transfer weather risk has left wind-energy stakeholders across the globe with untapped asset values. The total: an estimated USD $56 billion. This estimate, produced by leading renewable energy underwriter, GCube Underwriting, emphasizes the long-term financial impact of wind-speed volatility on portfolio and project revenues and highlights the size of the market for…
GCube underwrites 33% of all Canadian wind energy
Specialist renewable energy underwriter, GCube Insurance Services, has announced that it now provides coverage for over 4 GW of Canadian wind assets. This figure is expected to increase in the coming months with the strong construction pipeline for new wind infrastructure in the country. As of last year, and following the installation of a further…
GCube targets U.S. weather risk market
GCube, an underwriter for renewable energy initiatives, has responded to increasing demand from U.S. wind project-financed wind operators, notably those refinancing or going through acquisitions, by strengthening its underwriting team and rolling out its unique Weather Risk Transfer mechanism across the North American market. Demand for tailored risk transfer solutions has reached an all-time high in…
GCube Insurance expands west coast operations
GCube Insurance Services (GCube), underwriter for renewable energy, has enhanced its presence on the West Coast of the U.S., with a number of significant additions to the underwriting, claims, and business development teams based out of Newport Beach, California. California has taken a leading role in the adoption of renewable energy in the U.S., with…
GCube exceeds 1 GW of insured Irish wind power
Renewable-energy insurer, GCube Underwriting, has expanded its portfolio of underwritten Irish wind energy assets, now surpassing 1 GW of operational wind farms and construction sites throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland is one of the most successful markets worldwide for wind energy use, with just under a quarter of total electricity demand…
GCube insures Xcel Energy for North Dakota Wind Farm
GCube, a global underwriter for renewable energy initiatives, has signed a contract with U.S. power company, Xcel Energy, for a 200-MW wind project in North Dakota. Xcel Energy currently has 5,794 MW of wind power on its systems. The development in Courtenay, North Dakota forms part of plans to expand its wind portfolio by about…
GCube report sheds light on turbine fires and mitigating risks
Specialist renewable energy underwriter, GCube Underwriting, recently launched a unique report into wind turbine fires. Towering Inferno is the latest in a series of reports for GCube’s insured and broker community, analyzing the root causes, impacts, and mitigation of turbine fires and downtime. Fires are an infrequent occurrence in the global wind energy industry. The 300,000-strong international fleet…
How are companies keeping production costs downs as blade sizes increase?
Blades are getting longer as developers demand more power from current turbine platforms. To move the trend along, the Department of Energy recently offered up $1.8 million dollars in funding for the development of 60-m long (or more) wind-turbine blades on turbines that stretch over 120 m from base to hub. The challenge for blade-manufacturing…
GCube Insurance launches first unscheduled U.S. wind maintenance protection plan
GCube Insurance, a renewable energy underwriter specialist, has launched Beyond Balance Sheets: Unscheduled Maintenance Protection. This unique, first-to-market service enables financial directors and risk management teams to more effectively manage their long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) budgets and rapidly reduce the requirement for excess working project capital. Project owners now take an increasing interest in managing…
How can you protect against loss from downtime?
As wind farm owners and operators look to increase efficiency and reduce costs, unplanned outages can still put a halt on plans. Business Interruption (BI) insurance is one means of risk mitigation. A comprehensive policy offers financial protection in the event of unanticipated downtime. However, project owners should still consider self-insured mitigation options. Sometimes owners…
GCube gets to grips with grinding gearboxes
Specialist renewable-energy underwriter GCube Underwriting Limited has published an in-depth report, entitled Grinding Gearboxes, analyzing gearbox failure by addressing root cause, financial impact and proactive steps to mitigate the frequency and severity of downtime. As the central component of the drive system, the gearbox has always been a critical interface and constitutes 13% of the overall value…
GCube president discusses the U.S. offshore wind market
There has been much discussion surrounding the sustainability of the U.S. offshore wind market. The difficulties facing this emerging market can be seen worldwide. Today, John McLane, President of GCube Insurance Services, joins us to discuss the U.S. offshore wind market, its challenges, and the road ahead.
Taming insurance claim costs by investigating failures
Wind-power projects represent significant capital investments of many millions. So it’s no surprise that, average claims for wind-turbine failures run between $200,000 and $600,000. With such hefty claim costs, it is important for insurers to understand the root cause of failures to reduce future risks. To fully understand the loss-adjustment process, renewable energy insurance company,…
Romax says mitigating risk is key to wind farm development
In the wind-turbine industry, understanding failure modes and identifying the root cause is key to being able to assess wind turbine drivetrain damage. With this knowledge comes the ability to reactively solve problems while implementing a strategic view of preventative or predictive maintenance. It’s now well documented that unpredicted wind turbine downtime can cause significant…
GCube says blade damage and gearbox failure top chart for most common US wind energy claims
GCube, a provider of renewable energy insurance services has published a report summarizing the most common wind energy insurance claims made in the United States. The data based on 2012 US reported claims, shows that blade damage and gearbox failure account for the greatest number of losses – accounting for 41.4% and 35.1% of the…