What Renewable Energy Claims Reveal About Southern Europe’s Maturing Market

Green Partners Adjusting: What Renewable Energy Claims Reveal About Southern Europe’s Maturing Market

Francesco Cecere, Renewable Energy Senior Loss Adjuster at Green Partners Adjusting, discusses the claims trends he is observing across Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and wider Southern Europe.

Q&A: What Renewable Energy Claims Are Revealing About Southern Europe’s Maturing Market

As renewable energy portfolios across Southern Europe continue to mature, the nature of claims is evolving alongside them. From ageing equipment and changing maintenance strategies to theft, natural catastrophe events and increasingly complex contractual relationships, today’s claims often reveal broader trends across the market.

Q: Francesco, are you seeing any claims trends emerge as Southern Europe’s renewable energy fleet matures?

Yes, definitely.

One of the most interesting developments is that Southern Europe is now reaching a stage where many projects are encountering the same asset maturity challenges that Northern European markets experienced some years ago.

Countries such as Germany and Denmark deployed renewable energy infrastructure at scale much earlier than Italy, for example. As a result, many of the operational issues associated with ageing equipment, component failures and long-term asset management appeared elsewhere first.

What we’re seeing today is a market that is benefiting from that experience. Asset owners, operators and insurers have had the opportunity to learn from what happened in other countries and apply those lessons before many of the same issues emerge locally.

From a claims perspective, that has helped create a more mature approach to risk management.

Q: What do today’s claims tell us about how asset owners are managing risk differently?

Historically, many renewable energy owners viewed insurance as a necessary cost rather than part of a wider risk management strategy.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, there was often less focus on preventative maintenance, condition monitoring and long-term asset health. Claims were sometimes viewed as the primary mechanism for dealing with equipment failures.

Today, the picture is very different.

Asset owners have become much more proactive. They understand that investing in maintenance and prevention can reduce downtime, improve asset performance and ultimately support a more favourable insurance position.

Many of the behaviours we see today demonstrate a much greater level of operational discipline than we would have seen previously.

Q: Why are maintenance contracts becoming increasingly important in claims investigations?

Because in many cases they fundamentally influence who is responsible when something goes wrong.

A modern renewable energy claim is often about much more than identifying a failed component. We also need to understand the contractual framework surrounding that asset.

In the wind sector, for example, manufacturers are frequently involved throughout the entire lifecycle of a project. The same organisation may have supplied the turbine, installed it and continue to maintain it under a long-term service agreement.

As a result, when a gearbox, generator or blade fails, the discussion is not always simply between the asset owner and the insurer. Questions immediately arise around maintenance obligations, warranties and manufacturer responsibilities.

Understanding those relationships is often just as important as understanding the technical cause of the failure itself.

Q: Has the profile of claims changed during your career?

Yes, for sure.

One of the most striking examples is theft.

Between roughly 2014 and 2020, theft-related losses represented a very significant proportion of the claims I handled in Southern Europe. In some years, they accounted for the majority of my claims book.

Copper cable theft was a particularly significant issue across parts of Spain and Italy. In many cases, the value of the stolen material itself was relatively modest, but the cost of reinstating the site and the associated business interruption losses could be substantial.

But the market has adapted considerably since then.  Asset owners have improved security measures, insurers have increased deductibles and many operators have replaced copper with aluminium wherever practical. At the same time, the cost of solar equipment has fallen dramatically, reducing the attractiveness of some assets to organised theft.

As a result, theft remains a consideration, but it no longer dominates the Southern European claims landscape in the way it once did.

Q: We’ve seen some significant climatic events – such as flash flooding – occurring in Italy and Spain in recent years. Are natural catastrophe losses becoming a bigger issue across Southern Europe?

They are certainly becoming a more frequent area of discussion.

Historically, many people associated major weather-related losses with other parts of the world. Today, however, we are seeing more severe storms, flooding events and weather-related infrastructure damage across parts of Southern Europe.

What is particularly interesting is that the most significant losses are not always caused by direct damage to turbines or solar panels.

In many cases, the real challenge comes from damage to supporting infrastructure. Access roads may be washed away, substations may suffer water ingress, power lines may be damaged, or maintenance teams may simply be unable to reach critical equipment.

When that happens, relatively limited physical damage can still create significant operational disruption and business interruption exposure.

It highlights the importance of looking beyond the generating asset itself and considering the wider infrastructure that supports its operation.

Q: What is the biggest misconception people have about renewable energy claims?

Many people assume that a claim is simply about proving that damage occurred and if an exclusion applies.

In reality, some of the most complex claims involve determining who is responsible for that damage and how various contractual arrangements interact.

A single loss may involve an asset owner, an insurer, a manufacturer, a maintenance provider, an EPC contractor and multiple technical experts.

The challenge is often not identifying that something has failed. The challenge is determining why it failed, who is responsible for addressing it and how the various contractual and insurance mechanisms respond.

That complexity is becoming increasingly common as renewable energy projects mature and ownership structures become more sophisticated.

Q: Finally, what advice would you give renewable energy owners operating in Southern Europe today?

Think about risk holistically.

Insurance remains an important part of the solution, but it should not be viewed in isolation.

Owners should understand their maintenance obligations, review service agreements carefully, ensure contractual responsibilities are clearly defined and regularly assess how their assets are evolving as they age.

The strongest risk management strategies are built long before a claim occurs.

The renewable energy market across Southern Europe has matured significantly over the last decade, and the most successful operators are increasingly those that treat insurance, maintenance and operational resilience as part of the same conversation rather than separate disciplines.

Francesco Cecere is a Renewable Energy Senior Loss Adjuster at Green Partners Adjusting, supporting insurers and asset owners across Southern and Eastern Europe. He specialises in wind, solar and renewable energy claims, with particular expertise in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and eastern Europe.

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