The call to remove hurdles that could deter would-be solar investors is a common refrain worldwide and German reinsurance company Munich Re says it has done its bit to accelerate energy storage deployment with a new warranty product.
The Munich-based insurance giant today announced U.S. redox flow battery manufacturer ESS Inc. has become the first customer for its new battery insurance product.
The insurer has introduced a ten-year warranty cover policy for battery manufacturers that will pay repair and replacement costs for stationery batteries above a fixed value, helping to cap financial risk for manufacturers and the projects their products are used in.
Project cover
Popular content
The historic reinsurance house says the ability to cap the warranty costs associated with renewable energy projects will make them more attractive to investors. A statement announcing the new policy said customers have the option of extending the product to cover specific generation projects so that warranties would be fulfilled even in the event of battery manufacturers filing for bankruptcy during the ten-year period.
And with energy storage solutions being deployed rapidly around the globe as their price falls, Munich Re announced it plans to develop a product for mobility solutions such as electric vehicles in a ‘second phase’ of the policy.
Board member Peter Röder said in the press statement: “The ability to insure battery performance is a key piece of the puzzle in decarbonizing our energy sector. For the first time, battery manufacturers can insure against the risk of their products not delivering as promised. With this new coverage, Munich Re has again demonstrated its pioneering role in the insurance of climate-friendly technology.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.