Renewable energy installer insurance

Start with the work, not the label

Insurers rarely underwrite the heading 'renewables'. They underwrite specific tasks: working at height on roofs, live electrical connections, pressurised systems, refrigerants, lithium battery handling and commissioning. A business that fits only solar panels is a different risk from one that also installs batteries, EV chargers and heat pumps.

Because the mix of work changes the risk, a single generic description often causes trouble later. If a policy wording describes your trade narrowly, work outside that description may be uninsured even where you believed it was included.

• Domestic, commercial or both, and roughly what share of turnover each represents
• Whether you install only, or also design, specify and size systems
• Whether you subcontract labour and how those subcontractors are insured
• Roof types, working heights and any fragile or older roof materials
• Whether you maintain or service systems after handover

Which policy answers which question

Employers liability deals with injury or illness to people who work for you. Public liability deals with injury or damage to third parties, such as a customer's property damaged during work. Products liability responds to harm caused by goods you supply or install, and is usually bundled with public liability but should be checked, because the wording of what counts as installed goods varies.

Professional indemnity is typically written on a claims-made basis: claims must meet the policy's reporting requirements and any retroactive date. Changing insurer without preserving the agreed retroactive cover, or leaving a gap in insurance, can leave earlier work unprotected. Keep a record of dates and notify circumstances in line with the wording.

Workmanship, performance and guarantees

Liability policies commonly exclude the cost of redoing defective workmanship itself, while potentially responding to resulting damage to other property, subject to the wording. For example, a leak caused by poor flashing may produce a claim for ceiling damage, but the repair of the flashing may not be covered.

Promises that a system will generate a stated amount, save a stated sum or meet a stated efficiency are efficacy or performance guarantees. These are not automatically covered by liability or PI cover and may be excluded outright. If you give such guarantees in marketing or contracts, tell us so they can be raised with insurers rather than discovered at claim stage.

Contract works and completed works

Contract works, sometimes called contractors all risks, may insure agreed physical loss or damage during construction. Materials, work in progress, plant and tools depend on the sections and exclusions actually purchased. Handover, testing and maintenance-period provisions vary. Completed-works liability and any PI are separate questions, not automatic replacements for physical-damage cover.

Equipment in transit, stored in vans or held in a yard has its own conditions, including security requirements, that are commonly missed.

Certification is not insurance

Competent-person scheme membership, manufacturer accreditation and product warranties show standards of work. They do not prove that you hold appropriate insurance, and insurance does not confirm compliance. Some customers and schemes ask for evidence of cover or minimum limits in contracts; we ask to see those terms early so the limits and wording can be tested against them.