As utility-scale renewable energy matures into a core infrastructure asset class, its risk profile is no longer theoretical. Solar and wind projects now carry exposures that directly affect financing structures, tax equity assumptions, and long-term asset performance. Yet insurance frameworks for these assets have struggled to evolve at the same pace.
That disconnect has created demand for underwriting approaches grounded not only in traditional property insurance, but in asset-level performance data and project finance realities. One firm operating squarely at that intersection is San Francisco-based kWh Analytics.
Jason Kaminsky, CEO of kWh Analytics, says the company’s role emerged less by design than by necessity. “We did not start the company as an insurance company,” he explains. “But over the course of collecting and analyzing data, we found our way into insurance as a very strong application of how data can support risk management and underwriting in this segment.”
From Renewable Analytics to Insurance Application
kWh Analytics’ origins lie in renewable energy analytics rather than insurance. Kaminsky began his career in solar development before moving into commercial banking, underwriting renewable energy tax credits and cash flows. That combination shaped the firm’s early focus.
“One thing that makes us unique is that we’ve been those clients,” Kaminsky says. “Many of us came from development or project finance, so we understand what developers know well—and what they don’t.”
Jason Kaminsky, CEO
Insurance entered the picture through the firm’s first product, the Solar Revenue Put. Built on long-term production forecasting models developed with support from a U.S. Department of Energy award, the structure was designed to reduce revenue volatility and support financing.
“The innovation was really twofold,” Kaminsky says. “It was a data-driven production model, and it was how we layered that into a project finance transaction so it actually optimized the financial structure.”
That framing—insurance as a tool to reinforce capital structures rather than simply transfer loss—would later guide the company’s expansion into property risk.
When Property Risk Became a Financing Problem
The renewable insurance market shifted abruptly after a major hail loss event in 2019. Reinsurers responded by tightening terms, introducing hail sublimits, and raising deductibles across portfolios.
“Nearly overnight, at least at the pace of insurance, you started seeing hail sublimits,” Kaminsky says. “And when you have a tax investor where one of their key risks is that the project gets destroyed and isn’t rebuilt, which would lead to a recapture of that tax credit, the lack of hail cover becomes a very real underwriting concern.”
Project finance banks, he notes, were largely unprepared. “Most banks had never really underwritten gaps in insurance cover on the property side,” Kaminsky says. “And most insurance people don’t think about project finance on an everyday basis.”
That disconnect prompted banks to seek help—not necessarily to solve the problem immediately, but to understand it. “The call we got was essentially: we have a problem, and we don’t even know how to think about it,” he recalls.
Building a Data-Driven Property Underwriting Platform
In response, kWh Analytics expanded its datasets to include property loss information and redeployed its data science resources to model physical risk exposures more accurately. In 2023, the company formally launched its property insurance business.
Today, kWh Analytics operates as a specialist MGA focused on utility-scale renewable energy, supported by a panel of insurers and reinsurers led by Aspen Specialty .
Kaminsky says the firm’s value lies in translating technical risk into actionable insight. “Most developers know engineering really well,” he says. “What they don’t know is what a PML [Probable Maximum Loss] means, or how technology and location choices affect insurance pricing and capacity.”
Engagements typically begin through broker submissions. Using proprietary tools, the firm can rapidly assess exposures and provide concrete feedback. In some cases, that feedback leads to changes that materially improve underwriting outcomes.
“We’ve had clients where we’ve declined to quote but offered tangible guidance on how to improve the underlying risk. We see them come back a year later after making specific risk-control improvements, and we were able to offer a much better policy,” Kaminsky says. “That’s a win for us and a win for the client.”
He describes the approach as pragmatic rather than altruistic. “We want to insure the best risks,” he says. “So we’re very clear about what good looks like and how clients can get there.”
Underwriting the Energy Transition
Beyond individual transactions, kWh Analytics invests heavily in research and market education. Its annual Solar Risk Assessment has become a reference point across the market. More recently, the company introduced the Resilient Power Report, which focuses on projects where mitigation strategies worked and losses were avoided.
“Those are the stories you don’t usually hear,” Kaminsky says. “But they’re critical if we want a broader, more resilient, and more insurable asset base.”
The company now offers four core product categories: solar and wind revenue firming products, and primary and excess property insurance,. Each is designed to reduce downside risk in ways that support financing efficiency.
In late 2024, kWh Analytics also began developing tax credit insurance aimed at smaller credits that have historically been uneconomic to insure. “One of the drivers of tax credit claims is actually property loss,” Kaminsky notes. “So, it’s very close to everything we already do.”
The firm has also begun introducing new capacity into the U.S. renewable insurance market, including participation from Lloyd’s syndicates.
Looking ahead, Kaminsky frames the company’s role in broad terms. “We think of ourselves as underwriters for the energy transition,” he says. “If renewable energy is going to scale the way everyone expects, underwriting has to evolve with it.”