Insurance for solar parks, wind farms, biogas and CHP plants in Germany
An energy plant earns money every hour the sun shines or the wind blows, and loses it every hour it stands still. So the expensive part is not only the damage to a module, gearbox or engine, but above all the downtime until it is repaired. Banks will rarely finance a plant without an insurance package that covers both.
Does the insurance pay when the grid operator curtails our plant?
No. Loss of revenue cover only pays when insured physical damage to the plant causes the standstill, for example a lightning strike, a gearbox failure or stolen cables. Curtailment, weak wind or sun years and falling market prices are business risks. For curtailment, German energy law has its own compensation rules.
What goes wrong in this trade
01
Machinery under constant load
Inverters, transformers, gearboxes, generators and gas engines run around the clock. A breakdown costs you the repair and the revenue at the same time.
02
Weather
Hail on module fields, lightning in a blade tip, storms above the cut-out speed: open fields and towers take the full force of the weather.
03
Copper and module theft
Remote solar parks are targets for organised cable and module thieves. The damage to the wiring is often worth more than the loot.
04
Fire
Arcing at connectors, overheated transformers, digestate stores at biogas plants: fire spreads quickly to neighbouring land.
05
Environment
Leaking transformer oil, digestate in a stream, hydraulic oil from a wind turbine: environmental damage leads to clean-up duties under the Environmental Damage Act (Umweltschadensgesetz).
06
Remote control and grid
Plants are monitored and controlled remotely. A cyber attack on the control system can shut down an entire park.
As all risks or machinery breakdown cover, it pays for damage to modules, inverters, turbines and engines caused by technical failure, weather, fire and theft.
As operator liability it covers damage to third parties, for example from ice throw or fire, with environmental liability (Umwelthaftpflicht) and environmental damage extensions.
For managing directors of operating companies and community energy cooperatives who work with a lot of other people's capital.
What it costs: example prices
Plant insurance is usually priced per thousand of the plant's value and depends on technology, location, age, maintenance and deductible. Small photovoltaic systems have published rates; wind turbines and large parks are always calculated individually.
Insurance
Example
Typical range
Solar panel insurance
Rooftop system with 10 kilowatts peak and a plant value of 20,000 euros
about 60 to 90 euros a year
Solar panel insurance
Commercial rooftop system with 250 kilowatts peak, all risks, loss of revenue and liability
about 500 to 1,100 euros a year
Machinery breakdown
1 megawatt solar park worth around 700,000 euros, all risks and loss of revenue
about 1,200 to 2,500 euros a year
Machinery breakdown
Single 5 megawatt wind turbine, machinery breakdown and loss of revenue
usually from about 10,000 euros a year, on request only
Business liability
Operator liability for a solar park up to 5 megawatts with environmental extension
about 250 to 600 euros a year
For comparison: Insuring a 1 megawatt solar park costs about as much a year as the park earns from electricity on three to five sunny summer days.
Guide prices excluding insurance premium tax, as of September 2026.
The figures for small photovoltaic systems come from published rates;
the others are cautious guide values from the quotes we see in practice.
For wind, biogas and large parks we calculate from the plant data.
Six things that really happen to operators of energy plants, all on a single summer day. Click through the day and see who pays.
Damage so far€298,000
Cable thieves cut out the strings between module rows and inverters in a 5 megawatt solar park.
€45,000 · Paid by: Machinery breakdown
Until it is rewired, a third of the park feeds nothing into the grid for three weeks.
€18,000 · Paid by: Business interruption
After an attack on the monitoring system the park controller is locked, and every plant shuts down.
€25,000 · Paid by: Cyber insurance
An arc at a connector sets dry grass alight, and the fire spreads to the neighbour's field.
€12,000 · Paid by: Business liability
Hailstones larger than four centimetres smash modules across two hectares.
€160,000 · Paid by: Machinery breakdown
Oil from a leaking transformer seeps into the ground, and the authority orders a clean-up.
€38,000 · Paid by: Business liability
Which package would you have had?
Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €298,000
Illustrative amounts before any excess.
What is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
Agree an indemnity period for loss of revenue that matches the delivery times for spare parts; for transformers and gearboxes twelve months is often too short.
Check the clauses on serial losses and on maintenance duties before you sign.
Include environmental liability and environmental damage cover in your operator liability, especially with transformers and biogas.
Protect ground-mounted plants against theft with fencing, cameras and alarm monitoring; many insurers make this a condition.
Make sure there is no gap at commissioning when erection insurance ends and operating cover begins.
Have direct marketing income, not just the fixed tariff under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), included in loss of revenue cover.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We compare specialist insurers too
Only a limited number of insurers cover energy plants, often with very different terms on serial losses and indemnity periods. As a broker we put the offers side by side.
We know technical claims
In boat insurance we handle claims ourselves, from engines to electrics. We know how loss adjusters assess machinery damage and where insurers try to cut payments.
Roof, farm and business together
Many plants sit on your own sheds, farms or houses. We align plant, building and private policies so they fit together.
A family business since 1989
Energy projects run for twenty years and more. So do we: the same people to talk to, free for you, because the insurer pays our commission.
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
Is insurance compulsory for a solar park in Germany?
Not by law.
In practice banks, landowners and often grid operators require liability cover and plant insurance
with loss of revenue as a condition for financing and land leases.
Is buildings insurance enough for a commercial rooftop system?
Usually not.
It only covers fire, storm and hail, often only up to a limit.
Technical breakdown, theft and loss of revenue need separate plant insurance.
What does insurance for a solar park cost?
For a 1 megawatt park, all risks,
loss of revenue and operator liability usually come to about 1,500 to 3,000 euros a year,
depending on location, security and deductible.
Who is liable for ice thrown from a wind turbine?
The operator, if ice detection is missing or fails and someone is injured or something is damaged.
Operator liability covers this, provided the prescribed technology is installed.
Is environmental damage covered by public liability?
Damage to third parties is covered by environmental liability;
public law clean-up duties for soil and water only by an environmental damage extension.
Both should be included for plants with oil or digestate.
Does insurance cover weak wind or sun years?
No, that is a yield risk, not physical damage.
There are highly specialised weather derivatives for it,
but for most operators they are not worth the cost.
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