Wednesday 28th March 2018

Wind Watch

Wind Watch is published every Monday, Thursday and Friday.

In the meantime, have you checked out the latest posts on our blog? If not, you should!

In our most popular blog post this week, Alice Jones looks at the key risks that can pose a threat to the profitability of wind projects. Here's an excerpt, and you can read the full piece here.

The 6 biggest risks to wind farm profitability
By Alice Jones

When deciding whether to invest in a wind farm, there are numerous considerations that companies must take into account – financial backing, legal requirements, local regulatory policy, calculating predicted revenue, and so on.

And as well as these considerations, there are also a host of other risks that can pose a threat to the profitability of projects. As the cost of wind power tumbles and project owners’ margins are squeezed, these risks could potentially be very damaging.

In this article, we outline the six biggest risks to your wind farm revenue – and what you can do to protect against them.

1) NATURAL CATASTROPHES

Anyone who read the news in 2017 did not have to look far for a natural catastrophe (‘nat cat’ to your insurers). During the summer, hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria wrought havoc across the US and Caribbean; Mexico suffered three earthquakes in September alone; and wildfires blazed across California during the autumn.

Meanwhile, Afghan avalanches, South Asian monsoon floods, and an earthquake on the Iraqi-Iranian border claimed hundreds of lives. In addition to their devastating human impacts, the costs of natural catastrophes for renewables projects including wind farms is high – and countries that combine high ‘nat cat’ exposure with a high density of renewables projects are most vulnerable.

Reinsurer Swiss Re has estimated that...