The 2026 renewable energy insurance market begins in a markedly different place to previous years. The softening that took hold across energy property and parts of the casualty market in 2025 will continue, supported by strong reinsurance capital, modest new capacity, and insurers under pressure to meet growth targets. At the same time, consistent CAT losses, grid-related volatility, and more complex project designs are creating deep underwriting divergence between well-engineered portfolios and those with structural or geographic challenges.
As we look ahead to 2026, five themes appear poised to shape the year.
1. Softening in renewables continues – but with sharper divergence and CAT caution
Even with notable wildfire and SCS losses during 2025, the energy market remains on a soft trajectory into 2026. WTW note that, for the broader property market, average Q2 2025 renewal rates fell 8 percent year-on-year, with shared/layered programs seeing the steepest declines. This is reinforced by reinsurers’ stable or easing pricing and an increase in capital entering insurance markets for 2025–26.
Yet this is not a uniform story.
We expect 2026 to bring a stronger split between:
- Tier 1 renewable portfolios with strong engineering, complete data rooms, and diversified geography, which will continue to see rate reductions, expanded capacity and flexibility around deductibles and policy wording.
- CAT-exposed or under-maintained assets, especially in US SCS belts, Mediterranean wildfire and flood zones, and Caribbean hurricane regions, which will face higher deductibles, reduced limits, and stricter modelling scrutiny.
Other solutions will likely continue growing as more clients seek fast-settlement options in wildfire, SCS and flood-exposed regions. We also expect more long-term agreements as insurers seek to stabilise premium income while competing aggressively in a soft market.
2. BESS underwriting enters its next phase: controls, software, redundancy and data
2025 further confirmed that battery storage is now a data-driven class, not a materials-driven one. High-profile outages – including the Waratah transformer incident in Australia – shifted underwriter attention squarely to energy management system integrity, balance-of-plant redundancy, commissioning quality and how assets recover after a fault.
In 2026 we expect:
- More granular access requests, with insurers increasingly asking for real-time or near-real-time operational data and deeper SCADA history.
- Closer scrutiny of EMS interoperability, system protocols and cyber risk.
- Design scrutiny around transformers, inverters and cabling, reflecting 2025’s uplift in mid-severity losses.
- A broader conversation around DSU, but still limited appetite for large limits on projects built around new chemistries or unproven integrators.
Premium pricing for BESS will continue to soften, but the rate of softening will slow as tightening regulation and continued tariffs disrupt some supply chains. Projects that can secure more favourable deductibles will be those that demonstrate granular control of systems, redundancy in balance of plant and disciplined O&M programs.
3. Casualty pressures deepen as renewable infrastructure converges with urban and industrial risk
As renewable infrastructure – predominantly solar and BESS – converge with urban population density, distribution hubs and high-value infrastructure – casualty risks are being heightened. Combined with litigation trends in US construction markets, this has kept upward pressure on primary and excess liability.
In renewable energy, we expect 2026 to reflect:
- More scrutiny on subcontractor qualification and oversight in solar and BESS construction.
- Higher expectations for site safety plans and traffic management, especially in C&I and Distributed Generation projects.
- Increasing concern regarding the interface between renewable infrastructure and adjacent uses, such as data centres, logistics hubs or industrial parks.
For best-in-class portfolios, rates should stabilise or see mild uplift. For those with subcontractor-driven losses or repeated site-injury claims, increases will be meaningful.
4. Supply chain and grid constraints intensify contingent exposure concerns
While pricing in US domestic and London markets will soften, delay on start-up (DSU), business interruption (BI) contingent business interruption (CBI) exposures will remain major underwriter concerns, owing to supply chain delays, tariffs or weather-related interruption.
In solar, grid-originating outages were one of the biggest BI cost drivers of 2024–2025. We expect broader DSU and BI exposure to increase in 2026 as:
- Ageing transmission equipment and increased congestion create longer and more frequent outages.
- Data centres amplify local grid stress, influencing projects in the US Southwest, Nordics, Spain and Ireland, while competing for electrical balance of plant and transmission infrastructure.
- Construction delays in offshore wind continue to push up DSU exposures linked to vessel availability, cable manufacture and late-stage commissioning risks.
We expect BI/CBI terms to come under more stringent review. Markets will reward clients who can clearly articulate redundancy strategies, such as inventory or swapping between projects, and realistic BI values.
5. Data becomes the decisive factor across underwriting lines
2025 proved the inflection point: structured data is no longer a differentiator; it is a requirement.
For 2026, we anticipate:
- Further digitalisation of the submission process, particularly for small and mid-scale solar portfolios where platform-based underwriting – including bulk-upload functionality – is becoming the norm.
- Wider adoption of standardised data taxonomies across insurers and reinsurers, creating pressure on clients to provide consistent SCADA, EPC/O&M, performance and location data.
- More precise risk selection, as loss adjusters, MGAs and reinsurers collaborate on analytical frameworks refined after two high-severity loss years in offshore wind, BESS and US solar.
- Greater integration of geospatial intelligence, with wildfire, SCS, hail and flood exposure mapping directly tied to deductible and limit structuring.
Clients with complete, verifiable datasets will continue to outperform the market – securing better deductibles, more capacity, and faster placements.
What this means for insureds and brokers next year
2026 will be a year where opportunity and caution coexist:
- There is clear potential for further softening, especially in energy property and non-CAT portfolios. Underwriters and brokers will come under pressure from insureds, but both wholesalers and markets should remind clients that relationships and service have a value beyond rates.
- But underwriting quality thresholds are rising, and CAT-exposed or data-poor portfolios will not participate fully in market relief.
- BESS, wind and grid-connected assets remain areas where engineering and operational discipline matter as much as price.
- Casualty will remain challenging, requiring better site safety, subcontractor controls and litigation-aware programme design.
- Broadening of new asset classes and solutions. Forward looking brokers will work for opportunities to support key stakeholders, such as equipment manufacturers, or new verticals such as EV infrastructure or floating solar
The year ahead will test both discipline and innovation. For insureds, the advantage will rest with those able to present transparent data, clear engineering narratives and pragmatic risk-management strategies. For brokers and underwriters, success will depend on balancing speed and service with technical scrutiny, ensuring that softening does not erode underwriting integrity. As renewable markets evolve beyond subsidy-driven growth and into infrastructure-critical territory, the ability to pair specialist insight with adaptable risk-transfer structures will define the winners of 2026 — and set the tone for the decade to follow.