Authors: Robert McMillan Kirsten Bonke
2024 was an exciting year for the burgeoning Renewable Energy practice at Gallagher Re: winning the trust of many major clients and building our book in a fast-growing part of the energy reinsurance market.
First established within our Marine & Energy team in 2023, the Renewables practice has now developed several key relationships – including with significant clients in Japan.
In 2024, following client seminars led by our technical experts, Kirsten Bonke and Robert McMillan, several important Japanese clients entrusted the team with placing their Offshore Wind portfolios. Our brokers further strengthened these relationships to support their April 2024 treaty placements.
Gallagher Re went on to engage with potential clients and markets at a number of international events, hosting seminars in Singapore, Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur and participating in the WindEurope Annual Event1 held in Bilbao.
The team also demonstrated the effectiveness of being able to bring global expertise and executing it locally by collaborating with our regional teams, which serve as the primary interface with our clients.
In recent months, Gallagher Re has experienced a surge in requests from China, Vietnam, and South Korea, leading to several successful placements. There is also a growing tendency among some clients to separate their Renewables business from their main Energy placements.
While there were some challenges in aligning expectations, technical provisions, and timelines, these areas will be revisited in 2025 to ensure improved alignment. Overall, the engagement has been positive, offering clients enhanced solutions and value beyond what they previously received.
The broader view: Renewables insurance is a growth market
Taking a broader perspective, while the current development of wind, solar, and other renewable power is still insufficient to reach the world’s Net Zero targets, 2025 is anticipated to see further growth2.
As our colleagues observed after their trip to the COP29 conference in November, climate change can only be tackled if climate finance and insurance are firmly on the agenda. Government support, disaster risk finance, and the Loss and Damage Fund are all critical components, but so too is the energy transition.
As we detailed in a white paper on the industry published in November, renewables (re)insurance is still in its expansionary phase, characterized by a growing industry, sufficient capacity and reasonable profitability for insurers, and a healthy influx of new entrants.
The challenge lies in equipping markets with the necessary insights into emerging trends, technologies, and associated risks, as well as identifying potential business opportunities. Sharing our technical expertise continues to be an essential component of our market strategy, and we are committed to being approachable and serving as a reliable partner to (re)insurers.
This has helped some cedants, who already trust us with their portfolios of renewables either in standalone or composite, to take a more generous view in allocations. Plus, where their appetite is not yet fully developed, or capacity causes issues, we are able to place retrocessions with our knowledge of the market.
Looking forward into 2025, our focus will be on helping our existing clients stay informed and grow their business, whilst retaining and growing our new client books through excellent support services, and delivering more insights through whitepapers and online articles.
To learn more about our approach to Renewables, connect with our specialists via the contact details below.
