Renewable Guard Launches the Renewable Guard Insurance Scorecard, A Developer Centric Consulting Report for Renewable Energy Insurance Program Benchmarking

PR Newswire

This new consulting resource is available to Developers and Owners of Renewable Energy projects for immediate use. The Report will leverage the expertise of Renewable Guard's former STANCE Insurance Lender Consultant, along with a survey of industry policy review data to score a Developer's Insurance Program compared to the rest of the market

SAN FRANCISCO, May 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2018, increasingly hard insurance market conditions have caused insurance costs to rise while also tightening insurance coverage terms. This has cut into project returns and has left many project Developers and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) asking the question, how does my insurance program compare to the rest of the market? Up until now, the answer to that question came from two sources that may have their own inherent bias:

The Bank or Lender Insurance Consultant – These parties often dictate the deductibles, terms, and limits you need to carry. Hardening insurance requirements can significantly increase a project Sponsor's cost while reducing returns. So how can a Developer be certain the insurance requirements presented by the Lender, Tax Equity Investor, or their Consultant are "commercial" and not a reflection of the organizations' risk tolerance? How can a Developer know if the terms being asked of them are better or worse from what is being asked of another customer? What resource do they have to push back?
The Incumbent Retail Broker – Few brokers would admonish the work they have done. They placed the coverage, so the feedback will likely be that these are the best terms available. To the best of their knowledge, they may be right. But one issue is that a retailer's knowledge is mostly based on their own book of business, which represents just a subset of the overall renewable energy insurance marketplace. Had a full market sounding been completed? What other options are there to compare the incumbent program to other similar portfolios?

These two sources alone have limitations in providing 100% confidence that the terms being asked by the Lender and met by the Broker are optimal. Renewable Guard Agency Principal Mike Cosgrave says, "This is one of the reasons why we hired former STANCE Lender Consultant Andy Glickfeld. Not only has he bolstered project finance support for our own clients, but with the creation of our Insurance Scorecard, Developers can benchmark their insurance program through the eyes of a consultant who has reviewed countless insurance programs from across the industry."

So, how does it work? A comprehensive review of incumbent policies and project schedule is conducted to produce a detailed report that focuses on the following sections: coverage, rates, deductibles, policy wording, and carrier rating. Each of these criteria are averaged together and the incumbent program is given a score. Renewable Guard then makes a series of recommendations (if needed) on how the Developer can improve their score. Andy Glickfeld noted, "If the current program is well designed, we will let the insured know. We don't want to just poke holes in the current program, but if we find issues, we will give the insured recommendations on how they can improve their insurance program score." The insured can then decide how best to implement Renewable Guard's recommendations.

Ultimately, Renewable Guard believes the insurance marketplace for renewables is beginning to flatten with new capacity creating more carrier competition. This creates new opportunities for project Developers to improve insurance terms while also increasing returns for investors on these critical energy projects. The Renewable Guard Insurance Scorecard is just one more resource at their disposal.

For more information regarding the Renewable Guard Insurance Scorecard or to begin a formal consultancy engagement, please contact: