We need renewable energy to combat climate change, yet our changing climate is already impacting the viability of renewable energy projects, particularly utility-scale solar. Hail storms, flooding, severe winds – the escalation of extreme weather is already causing an insurability crisis in Australia, pushing up premiums and seeing insurers limit coverage, and conditions are only set to worsen.
At the same time, solar farms are becoming bigger and increasingly aggregated in Renewable Energy Zones. While this approach helps with logistics, clustering assets also means clustering risk. Plus, all of this is unfolding on the backdrop of slimmer margins as daytime wholesale energy prices plunge and competition grows more fierce.
This is to say, the question of how to future-proof utility-scale solar is an urgent one. How do we more fairly balance risk allocation across stakeholders? What technological and operational choices can be made to mitigate extreme weather risks? And, given what’s at stake, how do we start to think bigger and more collaboratively?
Leaders from across the stakeholder chain, including insurers, lenders, project developers, contractors, and technology suppliers will come together to discuss these questions during this panel.
pv magazine Webinar content:
- Utility-scale solar’s insurability crisis
- How the industry can mitigate against weather risk using technology
- Balancing risks between stakeholders
- Getting comfortable with risk and opening early discussions
- Q&A
Attendees will have the opportunity to put their questions to the speakers following the panel discussion. Bella Peacock, editor at pv magazine Australia moderate the webinar.
Registration for this pv magazine Webinar is free of charge.
Speakers
Simon Currie | Co-Founder & Chief Projects Officer, Energy Estate
Simon is the co-founder of Energy Estate, an integrated zero carbon independent energy producer (IEP) focused on accelerating decarbonisation, driving innovation and delivering with respect and impact. Simon and his team are passionate advocates for increasing local content and ensuring that renewable energy projects deliver enduring outcomes for local communities and traditional owners.
Neil Fraser | Executive Director of Natural Resources & Energy, Commonwealth Bank
Neil Fraser is an Executive Director, Natural Resources and Energy – Institutional Banking and Markets for the Commonwealth Bank. Neil heads the Australian and New Zealand Energy team which manages the relationships with corporate clients and provides structured project finance for renewable energy assets.
Pat Behan | National Renewable Energy Leader, AON
Pat currently Leads Aon’s Renewable Energy proposition in the Pacific region and brings a wealth of experience as an insurance and risk advisor to a large portfolio of Renewable Energy clients. Pat has been involved in the Insurance Industry for over 20 years across a number of roles including Engineering, Underwriting and Broking. The past 14 years has been focused primarily on Renewable Energy projects and accounts across Europe and the Pacific region.