[ARNHEM, NETHERLANDS/ HONG KONG SAR, 21 January 2019] With the solar energy industry maturing, insurance companies are becoming familiar with the reliability of solar energy farms and… potential quality setbacks. Solarif Insurance and Sinovoltaics have joined forces to provide an unique insurance product in addition to an Operational All Risk insurance insuring inherent defect of solar modules and inverters based on batch inspections during production. A solar energy project becomes eligible for insurance coverage as soon as the quality of the PV components has been approved through rigorous inspections. The product becomes Solarif-certified.
Dricus de Rooij, Managing Director at Sinovoltaics and Harry Wolkenfelt, CEO at Solarif
How does Insurance based on Quality Assurance work?
Together with Solarif Insurance, Sinovoltaics has developed inspection procedures and standards that PV manufacturers need to adhere to, in order for their products to become eligible for inherent defect coverage supporting the manufacturers’ warranty. The insurance coverage remains valid even if the manufacturer has gone insolvent. These procedures and standards are a result of 10+ years of accumulated PV component inspection, manufacturer audit and solar farm performance data, and are tailored to the specific technology being insured.
Solarif’s Inherent defect coverage is available for projects inside Europe with a size of at least 1MW (Netherlands and Belgium also below 1MW) and outside Europe, including Australia, Middle East, North-America and Latin America, if the project is at least 15 MW.
Advantages compared to existing insurance products
- Any solar module brand can be insured, regardless of the size of the manufacturer
- Applicable to any solar energy project anywhere in the world
- Unique integrated risk management solution combining PV component quality assurance and insurance coverage
- Extensive and strict technical due diligence on the solar modules means an extra layer of safety
What is covered under this insurance?
Solarif’s Inherent defect coverage protects your investment and secures your revenues in case of an inherent defect of panels and inverters used.
Inherent Defect Coverage:
- Supports the manufacturers’ warranty (modules up to max. 20 years, inverter max. 7.5 years);
- Reimburses the consequential losses, such as labour, transport and business interruption, not paid by the manufacturer in case of inherent defect;
- Will not be terminated in case of bankruptcy of the manufacturer (insolvency coverage);
- An optional cover in addition to the operational all risk insurance;
- Is only possible if the solar modules and inverters used are Solarif-certified subject to quality been approved.
Why this insurance product is unique
Most solar insurance products are geared towards the largest – so called “Tier 1” – manufacturers and do not take into account the actual quality of the solar modules. With Solarif’s Inherent defect coverage, any solar module brand can be insured, focusing solely on quality.
Harry Wolkenfelt, CEO at Solarif comments: “Insurance based on quality is the way ahead to make projects bankable”.
Niclas Weimar, CTO at Sinovoltaics commented: “Our quality standards and procedures for PV and storage components have been designed based on our data and our extensive risk management experience as technical auditors for solar PV and storage components, assets and investments, spanning over 10 years. To us, it completely makes sense to insure solar energy projects when the quality has been evaluated”.
