Greeting damage accounts for only 2% of the submitted claims for solar insurance policies, but according to VDE Americas more than 50% of the total costs. The company has launched a tool for risk assessment with KWH analyzes to help developers on utilities on utilities to reduce hail-related losses.
The large-scale solar industry of $ 14 billion from North America is a “sitting duck” with glass panels that are in fields with “little to no protection,” said VDE Americas, a technical due diligence and risk-restricting service provider.
VDE said that claims in the industry Hagel damage insurance policy only represent 2% of all claims submitted, but that comprises more than 50% of the total costs. The risk is great, but the industry has developed solutions to tackle and reduce this increasingly relevant risk.
“Climate change seems to influence both the frequency and the severity of hail events,” Brian Grenko, CEO and President of VDE Americas, said PV Magazine USA. ‘As the temperature is hot, the atmosphere contains more moisture, making stronger updrops and the formation of larger hailstones possible. “
Grenko said that the solar projects on utility scale in the ‘Hail Alley’ region that extend from Texas North to the Dakotas are particularly vulnerable to baseball-sized hailstones.
VDE announced that the collaboration with KWH Analytics of Climate Insurance to create a checklist tool with which project developers can quantify risks, report strategies for mitigation and reach lower project premiums.
The tool of the hail risk is a form for developers to fill in project information, such as the location, hail warning systems, at location personnel and components used, such as PV modules and racking/tracker models, including data. The form is a tool to help insurance insurers to assess risks and improve loss prevention practices. Vde’s tool and a form for best practices with hail Found here.
Image: Vde Americas
VDE said that insurance claims for solar projects on utility scale are damaged by hail average about $ 58 million per claim. However, there are many ways to invest in the resilience of a solar project.
(Read: “Usable insights to protect solar projects against hail damage))
PV Magazine USA Interviewed Brian Grenko, Chief Executive and President of VDE Americas about these strategies:
PV Magazine USA: Most important providers of the single-axis solar tracker have a hail message function?
BG: “Fortunately, Hagel-Stow functions are increasingly becoming a standard function for most single-axis tanning trackers. We always recommend that project owners confirm Hail Stow functionality, settings, protocols and priorities (eg wind versus hail) before they take purchasing decisions.”
PV Magazine USA: How does the increase in the costs of taking Hail Stow relate to the claim of $ 58.4 million per solar hail?
BG: “Trackers designed to stow on maximum tilting corners can be slightly more expensive compared to those flat, because more steel is usually needed to guarantee a resilient design. The operational costs in connection with the implementation of best practices (eg weather, storage costs, etc.) are the contamination of other maintenance) Te Verbaarten de Negargingen are in the neglect of the Conscales of Maintenance), etc. etc. From making an insurance claim. “
PV Magazine USA: Are hail -resistant solar modules that show strong performance under hail showers?
BG: “Absolutely. Data from our” verified by VDE “program shows that hail-resistant PV modules have considerable benefits compared to PV modules without such design characteristics.
We recently published a case study with regard to the effects of a ‘500-year-old’ hailstorm in Fort Bend County, Texas, which influences a cluster of installed solar projects in the vicinity of each other. One project in which Hail Stow protocols were not implemented (Fighting Jays) realized several million dollars in estimated losses.
While the three other projects that we have interrogated (Cutlass I, Cutlass II and Old 300) were exposed to comparable storm conditions, two of those projects did not suffer any measurable damage and the third project had only minimal damage (as a result of an isolated Tracker motorcycle), because those projects were correctly stored prior to the storm event. “
PV Magazine USA: Are projects that cannot be raised, such as fixed solar ports with higher insurance premiums?
BG: “In general, yes, although it depends on things such as project location and who is the insurance provider. Insurance premiums are usually higher for projects that cannot implement Hagelberg protocols.”
PV Magazine USA: On which other risks are the most important to prepare, especially in non-hail-sensitive regions? (Wind, flood, snow, etc.)
BG“It is important to remember that PV systems are often financed in the assumption of a useful life of 35 to 40 years. This requires that systems are not only designed to resist wind, hail, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow or frost-on of the long-term and planned activities and other technical risks, what a cavity engineer of a cavity and other technical risks, which is a cavity engineer of these and other technical risks of identifying and other technical risks of a cavity and one of the other technical roads and a high-rise cavity and a hollow engineer. every project.
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