Skip to main content

Renewable Energy: Risk and Reward

Energy systems across the world are experiencing fundamental shifts driven by climate change policies and rapid technological changes.

Over the past 10 years or so, renewable energy sources have expanded to such an extent they are now the dominant source of new power capacity additions in many countries.

The major types of renewable energy are hydropower, wind, bioenergy, solar, geothermal and ocean / marine. For all technologies (apart from hydro power) the theoretical resource far exceeds current levels of power generation. The potential also far exceeds global energy consumption for solar in particular, and also for wind and ocean technologies, implying that renewable energy supply is only constrained by practical social and economic conditions.

Unquestionably, the rapid growth in the renewables industry, the changing nature of risks in the sector and the fact that insurance is often a pre-requisite for provision of project finance mean that there might be a growing need for insurance.

Renewable Energy: Risk and Reward

This series of three reports on the renewable energy sector by Lloyd’s, in association with researchers from Imperial College London’s Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (commissioned via Imperial Consultants) analyses the implications of the changes to the energy generating landscape for insurers, risk managers and brokers.

Download Executive Summary
  1. The ‘Key trends and territories’ report provides an overview of energy market developments in the renewables sector, outlines the prospects for renewables in general and details national developments.
  2. The ‘Risks and technologies’ report outlines the risks associated with a range of established and emerging renewable energy technologies and explains how Lloyd’s is responding to them.
  3. The ‘Integrating renewables into grids and the role of energy storage’ report provides a deep dive into renewables integration and energy storage technology development.

All reports showcase Lloyd’s transfer solutions in the renewable energy space.

The Braver Series - Energy