Climate Changed

Introducing the Solar Put: Insurance for Cloudy Days at the Farm

  • Swiss Re provided solar revenue put to guarantee 95% of output
  • Solar put can cut risk, make financing cheaper: KWh Analytics

Photographer: Mario Proenca/Bloomberg

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Insurance giants like Swiss Re AG, with the help of a San Francisco firm, now have a way of guaranteeing production from solar farms -- not an easy feat considering supplies from these plants rise and fall with the sun.

The product that at least one insurance company is now offering is called a solar revenue put. It was developed by risk-management software firm KWh Analytics and can guarantee as much as 95 percent of a solar farm’s expected output, according an email the company sent to clients Tuesday. Swiss Re has now sold one for three Virginia projects.