Renewable Energy Insurance For Contractors And Installers

Because you are giving advice as well as fitting equipment. A performance estimate that the system never achieves, a specification that turns out to be wrong for the property, a roof that could not take the load, or a battery sized incorrectly are all failures of design or advice rather than accidents, and public liability does not respond to them. Where you produce the design, the yield estimate or the specification, professional indemnity is the cover that answers a complaint about it.

Public liability from £1m, with £5m where the contract requires it, and employers' liability once you employ anyone. Professional indemnity if you design systems or provide performance estimates. Contract works while an installation is in progress. Stock and equipment cover including materials on site and in the van. Working at height declared properly. And if you install battery storage, that declared specifically, because insurers treat it as its own question.

It has to be declared, including the height and the type of roof. Domestic pitched roofs, commercial flat roofs and ground-mounted arrays are different risks, and scaffolding versus other access arrangements matters too. Roof work is the largest single driver of the liability premium in this trade, and a policy rated for ground-mount work that finds you on a three-storey pitched roof is a serious gap.

Yes, and increasingly so. Lithium battery systems bring a fire risk that insurers assess separately, and they will ask about the products you fit, where batteries are sited (a garage or outbuilding rather than a loft is generally viewed more favourably) and how they are commissioned. Some insurers restrict or exclude battery work. If you install storage, declare it rather than treating it as part of a solar job.

No, and the distinction matters. Insurance does not pay to redo work that was simply done badly; that is excluded deliberately and is a cost of doing business. What it covers is the consequence: water damage from a leaking roof penetration, fire from a poor connection, injury from a panel that came loose. Where a certification scheme requires an insurance-backed guarantee, that is a separate product from your liability cover.

Contractors building energy efficient and low carbon homes are usually placed with insurers who write construction rather than with a specialist green scheme, because the underlying risks are the familiar ones: public and employers’ liability, contract works while the build is in progress, and professional indemnity where you specify the fabric or the heating strategy. What changes is the detail. Airtightness and fabric-first construction concentrate the risk in workmanship and moisture, MVHR and heat pumps bring commissioning and performance obligations, and timber frame or SIPs construction raises a fire-during-construction question that insurers price separately. Several of the insurers who handle this properly are reached through brokers rather than direct. The practical test of any provider is whether they ask about the construction method and the performance guarantees you are signing up to, rather than only your turnover.

Tools and equipment insurance cover renewable energy business kit only in part, and that gap is where installers get caught, which is where installers get caught. A standard tools and equipment section is written for hand and power tools in a van, with an overnight vehicle condition. A renewables business is usually also carrying panels, inverters, batteries and heat pump units, which are stock and materials rather than tools, and leaving them on site between visits. Those need goods in transit and materials on site cover, and battery storage often needs declaring separately because of the fire question. Ask for the sums insured on each heading rather than assuming one tools figure covers the lot.

It is not a single product. For an installer or contractor it is an ordinary trades package assembled around three features that make this sector different: working at height on other people’s roofs, designing and estimating performance as well as fitting, and lithium battery storage. So it is public liability at the limit your contracts require, employers’ liability once you employ anyone, professional indemnity for the design and yield estimates, contract works for the installation in progress, and cover for panels, inverters and batteries on site and in transit. Large generation assets such as wind or solar farms are a different market again, written as power generation rather than as a contractor policy.

Most insurers who write electrical contracting will quote solar, and a narrower set will write it properly, meaning at height, with battery storage declared and with professional indemnity available alongside for the design and performance side. Several are reached through brokers rather than direct. Availability is not usually the constraint. What separates placements is whether roof work is declared at the right height and roof type, whether battery storage is covered or quietly excluded, and whether the yield estimates you give customers are backed by professional indemnity, which is the single most common omission in this trade.

Renewables installer cover starts at around £400 a year. For comparison, electrical contractors on our book start at around £97, and renewables sits above that because of the height, the battery storage and the design element. It is priced on that mix rather than on the trade name. How much is at height, whether you design as well as install, whether you fit battery storage, your turnover and your subcontracting arrangements, and that adding professional indemnity alongside liability is what most installers are missing rather than what makes it expensive. Call 02382 000820 for a real number.