Solar Panel Installer Insurance

The claim solar installers actually notify is not a fire or a performance dispute. It is water in a bedroom ceiling.

Mounting an array means penetrating the covering at every bracket, then making each penetration weatherproof again on a roof that may be fifty years old, with brittle tiles, perished felt, nail fatigue and a batten layout nobody can see. A flashing that was dressed badly, a tile that cracked when it was lifted, a bracket that lifted a course slightly, or a cable entry sealed with the wrong product produces a slow leak that appears weeks later, usually after driving rain, and by then the client has a stained ceiling and a new array to blame.

So the discipline is survey and record. Photograph the roof before anything is lifted, including existing cracked or slipped tiles, note the covering type and age in the job record, use the correct flashing kit for that covering rather than a universal one, and photograph each completed penetration. Where the roof is in poor condition, say so in writing before quoting rather than after a leak, because fitting an array onto a roof that needed replacing is a conversation worth having at the start.

The fire exposure in solar comes from the part of the system that is unfamiliar even to competent electricians.

A string of panels produces direct current at several hundred volts, and it produces it whenever there is light, which means the array cannot be made dead the way a circuit can. DC arcs also behave differently: they do not self extinguish at a zero crossing the way an AC arc does, so a loose connector, a crimp that was not made properly, a cable chafed on a sharp edge in a loft, or water in an MC4 connector can sustain an arc in a roof space full of insulation and timber. Fires traced to solar installations almost always come from the DC side rather than the panels.

Which makes the unglamorous details the whole safety case. Connectors crimped with the correct tool and matched by manufacturer rather than mixed, cables supported and protected where they pass through structure, isolators rated and sited correctly, labelling so a fire service knows what is live, and a commissioning test record kept. On maintenance and repair of somebody else's installation, add an inspection of exactly those things, because taking on a system means taking on whoever installed it.

Most solar installers hold liability cover and no professional indemnity, which leaves the one claim that has nothing to do with damage uninsured.

A domestic client decides to spend a significant sum on the basis of a generation estimate, a savings figure and a payback period. A commercial client may base a business case on it. If the array underperforms because the shading was not modelled properly, the orientation or pitch was optimistic, the inverter was undersized, or the assumptions about consumption and export were wrong, nothing is broken and the client is still worse off. That is advice, and the loss is the difference between what was promised and what was delivered.

So two things matter. Quote with the basis visible: the assumptions, the software used, the shading survey, the consumption profile assumed, and a clear statement that figures are estimates based on stated assumptions rather than guarantees. And insure the advice, because a performance shortfall claim on a commercial array can be considerably larger than any property damage you are likely to cause. Where a client supplies the consumption data, record that it was theirs.

Adding storage to an installation business changes what you are insuring, and it needs declaring rather than treating as another component.

A home battery is a lithium installation in a domestic building, frequently in a garage, utility room, loft or under stairs. Thermal runaway in a lithium system is difficult to extinguish, produces toxic gas, and can reignite, which is why insurers treat it as a distinct exposure rather than part of an electrical installation. Siting, ventilation, separation from escape routes, certification of the unit and the quality of the installation all bear on it, and some wordings exclude or condition battery work entirely.

So establish the position before selling storage rather than afterwards. Confirm in writing that battery installation is within your cover, follow the manufacturer's siting requirements rather than the customer's preference about where it looks tidiest, record the location and the commissioning test, and tell the client to notify their own home insurer, because an undeclared battery can affect their policy as well as yours. On commercial storage the values and the consequences are larger again.

Two gaps are common here: water ingress and the performance figures. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not tell you we are the best choice. These are the questions that decide it.