In this pv magazine Webinar, we will assess the risk of hail, and gain an understanding of the insurance marketplace for utility-scale solar assets.
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Over the past five years, hail damage has caused more than 50% of total insured project losses. Though infrequent, these events can produce record losses. In 2022, hail losses exceeded $300 million in Texas alone.
In this pv magazine Webinar, we will assess the risk of hail, and gain an understanding of the insurance marketplace for utility-scale solar assets.
Today, banks want to see higher levels of natural catastrophe coverage, while insurers want to limit coverage amounts. This mismatch “is an existential threat to project development activities in hail-prone regions.” This is particularly true in Texas, the largest utility-scale solar market in the nation.
Technical subject matter experts from VDE Americas, JinkoSolar, and Descartes Underwriting will explore three ways to close the severe storm insurability and finance gap. These strategies include deploying hail-hardened PV modules, engaging a technical advisor to quantify risks, and supplementing traditional insurance with parametric policies.
pv magazine Webinar content:
- Understand utility-scale solar hail risk
- Explore the finance and insurance mismatch in the market
- Review three strategies to address this gap and intelligently secure project insurance and finance
- Q&A
Questions can be submitted beforehand in the comments window when registering or in the chat during the live webinar. Ryan Kennedy, editor at pv magazine USA, will be the moderator of this webinar.
Registration for this pv magazine Webinar is free of charge.
Speakers
John Sedgwick | President, VDE Americas
John is a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the renewable energy industry. In 2013, he co-founded VDE Americas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the VDE Group, where he serves as president and a member of the board of directors. John also directs the strategic development of VDE Americas’ award-winning natural catastrophe (NatCat) risk exposure advisory products, which specialize in hail and wind risk to solar assets and portfolios.In 2002, John co-founded Solaicx, a solar technology company that invented and commercialized a proprietary process for the continuous growth of high-quality silicon ingots. As the company’s EVP, John secured technology patents; negotiated a long-term supply agreement with SunPower; and later played a crucial role in selling the company to SunEdison (formerly MEMC).
Adam Detrick, US Director of Product Management and Technical Services at JinkoSolar
Adam serves as US Director of Product Management and Technical Services for JinkoSolar, where he leads the product teams for solar and energy storage. Adam has over 20 years of experience in the PV industry working in both product development and manufacturing roles. He started as an Engineer in 1999 at PowerLight, an early innovator in the commercial PV industry. After PowerLight was acquired by SunPower in 2006, Adam led the SunPower module design group. Adam then joined Solaria in 2012 to support NPI and Quality through the spin-out of Nextracker, now the leading solar tracker in the industry.
David Stamatis, Business Development at Descartes Underwriting
With 13 years of experience in catastrophic property insurance, David Stamatis has a passion for understanding the complexities of risk management in the face of natural disasters. In his role as Business Development Manager at Descartes he is at the leading edge of addressing complex climate risk with advanced modeling and data analytics. David helps clients craft tailored index-based insurance solutions that provide rapid and transparent claims payouts based on predetermined triggers. Enthusiastic about leveraging current technology to narrow the climate-risk coverage gap, David's work is aimed at improving upon the industry's response to catastrophic events and providing more predictable and reliable outcomes for those affected.
Moderators
Ryan Kennedy | Editor, pv magazine USA
Ryan joined pv magazine in 2021, bringing experience from a top residential solar installer, and a U.S.-based inverter manufacturer. He holds a degree in Management with a certification in Sustainable Business Practices from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is currently pursuing a Master of Energy and Environmental Management degree at the University of Connecticut.
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