Solar Firm Declined by Multiple Insurers

A leading solar and electrical services firm found themselves at a critical bottleneck while trying to finalise a major partnership with a national energy company. The client's operations were high-stakes and varied: they managed complex solar installations across low-rise residential builds, mid-rise developments, and sensitive high-risk sites like petrol stations.

The client needed a Professional Indemnity policy that did more than just check a box. They required specific clauses, including "Run-off" cover and the inclusion of their corporate partner as an interested party, to risk-proof the long-term lifecycle of their projects.

However, the renewable energy sector is often viewed as "high-risk" by standard insurers. After having two other brokers fail to secure terms, the client was facing a wall of declines and a looming deadline that threatened their strategic scaling.

The client was initially unsure about how to categorise their work to satisfy underwriter appetite without over-complicating their risk profile. There was a notable gap regarding the technicalities of project-end protection. We stepped in to provide clarity through:

• Strategic Risk Segregation: We worked with the Director to accurately map their project history, identifying that less than 5% of their work was high-rise, with the majority being low-rise residential and commercial. This distinction was vital to moving past blanket "Occupation Declines"
• Contractual Translation: The client was concerned about "Run-off" cover requirements. We provided education on automatic policy extensions, explaining in plain English how the coverage would protect them at the end of agreements without needing immediate, costly multi-year upfront payments
• Proactive Market Advocacy: Knowing the market had already been "blocked" by previous broker inquiries, we had to find a fresh angle, workshopping the specific technical safety protocols the client utilised at high-risk sites (like petrol stations) to build underwriter confidence

While five specialist insurers declined the risk due to the "high-risk" nature of solar and electrical design work, we leveraged our deep relationship with a specialist underwriting agency.

We successfully negotiated a bespoke Professional Indemnity solution that:

• Matched the corporate requirement by including the specific legal entities required by their partner as interested parties
• Right-sized the limit: we analysed the client's current pipeline to determine that a $1M limit was the most cost-effective starting point, with a clear roadmap to scale as their projects grew
• Secured technical compliance by building a "Design & Construct" framework into the policy to ensure their professional advice was protected alongside their physical installations

Within a few weeks of intensive market navigation and client consultation, the firm was fully protected and ready to scale their operations with confidence. More importantly than securing the partnership, the client now had the right insurance foundation to take on major projects knowing their professional advice and design work was properly covered.

The Director now has a scalable insurance foundation and a clear understanding of their coverage, ensuring the business can grow securely into new markets and larger projects.