Prepare for hail season—and reduce solar insurance premiums

April 17, 2025—San Jose, California-based, VDE Americas, a global leader in technical advisory and catastrophic risk assessment services for the solar power industry, and kWh Analytics, a leading Climate Insurance provider that differentiates premiums based on renewable energy asset resiliency, have jointly launched a new assessment form that evaluates solar site hail vulnerability and protective measures. The launch coincides with the beginning of North America’s hail season, which spans from April through September, giving solar developers and operators a timely resource to safeguard their assets during these high-risk months.

Multiple, high-profile hail losses have caused insurance challenges for solar assets, fueling the industry to adopt resilience measures, such as deploying thicker glass solar panels that are less prone to cracking. However, for insurance carriers to effectively assess risk mitigation, they need data. To provide meaningful hail risk evaluation data, VDE Americas and kWh Analytics have jointly developed the Hail Stow and Risk Evaluation form.

This easy-to-use assessment allows insurance underwriters and financiers to confirm and monitor hail defense functionality. The form also provides an option for insurers to connect with tracker manufacturers and independent engineers directly for project specifics. Ultimately, projects that use this form and demonstrate the effectiveness of their resiliency efforts should receive insurance credits for doing so.

The Hail Stow and Risk Evaluation Form and its technical recommendations are informed by VDE’s comprehensive best practices for hail defense, which include proactive solar panel stowing—tilting solar panels at extreme angles to minimize hail impact damage—sector-specific hail forecasting, and alert-based hail stow.

kWh Analytics’ and VDE Americas’ approach to risk modeling leverages radar-based weather data and equipment-specific hail resiliency characteristics to create a data-driven model that rewards resilient design and operational excellence. By incorporating reliable, site-specific hail risk data and equipment performance metrics, this approach creates a more precise risk assessment framework that benefits proactive solar owners and operators. "Our evidence-based premium differentiation rewards projects with proven hail defense strategies, sending an insurance price signal to the industry and incentivizing the design, construction, and operation of more resilient solar assets," said Nicole Thompson, Senior Manager of Data Science at kWh Analytics.

The form works alongside VDE Americas' Hail Risk Intelligence suite to address solar projects’ vulnerabilities to hail. The evaluation provides insurers with standardized criteria to assess hail readiness, while the Intelligence suite equips operators with practical tools—including hail risk engineering reports, a Hail Risk Atlas with ArcGIS mapping, technical guidance for stow procedures, and forensic analysis capabilities. Together, these resources help solar projects both strengthen their resilience against hail damage and demonstrate resilience to insurers.