Monday 9 September 2024

‘Extreme weather wreaks havoc on Europe’s solar farms’

Insurance group Chaucer reports that hailstorms in Europe have increased by 104 per cent in the last year resulting in damage to and increase in costs for solar infrastructure.

According to the report, hailstorms can damage solar panels by cracking their protective glass, which is incredibly costly to repair.

And hailstorms in Europe have increased by 267 per cent in the past five years due to climate change, up from 3,217 hailstorms in 2019/20.

This rise in the frequency of hailstorms is expected to continue as extreme weather events become more regular around the globe.

However, typical insurance policies for solar farms only cover between 10 -15 per cent of total insurable value (TIV) – with additional insurance to fully protect solar panels being very expensive.

As a result, solar farms are often uninsured for hail damage.

Although new technologies are being developed, including weather-monitoring systems that use artificial intelligence (AI) and thicker tempered films that are crack resistant but these are currently expensive solutions.

Alex Nelson, Class Underwriter at Chaucer said: 'Hailstorms are increasingly frequent and therefore increasingly damaging.

'With limited cover from standard policies, operators of solar installations often have to pick up a large percentage of the cost of damage by a hailstorm. That’s naturally going to slow the growth of solar energy production in those areas where hailstorms occur.'