Amwins Global Risks Lifts Renewable Catastrophe Cover to $50 Million, Adds Global Perils

Amwins Global Risks’ Renewable Cat Facility Gets a Global Upgrade

Amwins Global Risks, the specialty wholesale arm of global broker Amwins, has launched a significantly expanded natural catastrophe insurance facility for renewable energy projects, raising the available limit to $50 million per placement and extending its reach worldwide. The move transforms an offering that was originally introduced solely to provide excess Severe Convective Storm (SCS) coverage in the United States into a multi-peril solution available anywhere a project faces earthquake, flood, wildfire, windstorm or other major natural hazard risks.

The facility is designed to sit on top of primary property and construction insurance programmes, giving developers and investors a dedicated top-up that bridges the gap between standard market capacity and the total replacement value of increasingly asset-heavy schemes. As renewable projects become larger and are deployed in more catastrophe-prone regions, that gap has widened, said Harry Downes, Director at Amwins Global Risks. “While Severe Convective Storm remains a significant concern in the United States, we’re seeing growing demand for additional protection against wildfire, flood, earthquake and windstorm across other regions,” he explained.

The expansion capitalizes on an evolving insurance purchasing dynamic: softening property insurance rates in the renewable energy sector have freed up premium dollars, which many owners are now directing towards higher catastrophe limits. Lenders and equity investors, meanwhile, are insisting on stronger balance-sheet protection as the value of the assets they finance grows. Amwins Global Risks stressed that the enhanced facility, placed via its Energy, Power & Infrastructure practice, is part of a broader push to build specialist solutions for the global renewables market.

Why the Protection Gap Is Pushing Cat Limits Higher

The protection gap driving demand

The gap between primary insurance capacity and the full exposure of large renewable projects has been a persistent concern. As projects scale up – giant offshore wind farms, sprawling solar parks – the insurable value often exceeds what standard property markets are willing to provide on a single risk. Amwins’ facility steps into that space, offering up to $50 million of additional catastrophe capacity, which can be layered to bring total cover closer to the asset’s replacement cost. This is particularly relevant for projects in regions with high natural catastrophe risk, where primary insurers may impose sub-limits or exclude certain perils. The expansion to a global footprint reflects the fact that renewable developments are no longer concentrated in benign climates; solar farms in earthquake zones, wind turbines in hurricane corridors, and transmission lines through wildfire territory all need the same kind of top-up that US wind and solar projects first demanded for SCS.

How a softening primary market is reshaping insurance buying

Brokers report that property insurance rates for renewable energy assets have been easing, a trend that Amwins itself notes is prompting clients to reallocate savings toward higher catastrophe limits. Instead of pocketing the premium reduction, many developers are purchasing extra cover, effectively increasing their insurance spend on the cat side while keeping overall programme costs stable or only slightly higher. This is a rational response: a cheaper primary layer makes it easier to justify a more robust cat tower, and lenders are often the ones pushing for that extra cushion. The result is that a facility like Amwins’ can find ready demand without requiring a large jump in total risk spend.

From US hail risk to a global multi-peril framework

The original facility, focused purely on US Severe Convective Storm, addressed an acute exposure that had already caused significant claims in the midwest and south. By adding earthquake, flood, wildfire and windstorm, Amwins is reacting to a diversification of renewable energy geography – from Chilean solar deserts prone to earthquakes, to Australian wind farms in bushfire zones, to European offshore wind in storm-lashed seas. The facility’s global underwriting stamp also indicates that Amwins has secured reinsurance capacity that is comfortable with a broader set of modelled perils, which is itself a sign of growing sophistication in the renewable catastrophe market. For developers, it means they can now approach a single broker and obtain a coherent multi-peril cat excess programme, rather than patching together separate covers for each region and peril.

What This Means for Renewable Energy Developers and Investors

For project owners and developers:

• Assess your cat gap – compare your current property and construction policy limits with the project’s full estimated maximum loss (EML) for key perils. If a shortfall exceeds $50 million, Amwins’ facility could provide a dedicated top-up, especially now that it covers perils like wildfire and earthquake that are increasingly relevant outside the US.
• Reallocate premium savings – with primary property rates softening, capture the savings and apply them to extra catastrophe limit. This can strengthen the project’s credit profile and satisfy lender requirements without a big jump in insurance costs.
• Review lender and investor mandates – if your financing agreements impose minimum insurance limits, the expanded facility could help you meet or exceed those thresholds, potentially improving borrowing terms or project bankability.
• Consider multi-peril cover for global portfolios – if you operate assets across different regions, a single excess programme can streamline risk transfer and reduce the cost of buying separate cat covers for each country or peril.

For insurers and brokers:

• Watch the competitive dynamic – Amwins’ move raises the bar for facultative catastrophe capacity in renewables. Other intermediaries may follow, accelerating product innovation and cost-efficiency for buyers.