Africa's renewable energy pipeline is enormous: utility-scale solar in the Sahel, geothermal in the Rift Valley, wind on the coasts, and thousands of commercial and industrial rooftop installations in between. Every one of those projects has to be financed, and nothing gets financed without insurance that lenders trust.
The risk profile is genuinely different
Renewables projects concentrate value in ways traditional power does not. A single hailstorm can damage a large share of a solar farm's panels. Wind turbine components are outsized cargo moving over long inland routes, which makes marine and transit cover a critical early decision rather than an afterthought. And once operational, revenue depends on resource availability, grid stability, and offtaker credit, risks that sit at the edge of what conventional property policies address.
OLEA's four-stage framework
We structure renewables programs around the project lifecycle. First, development and cargo: covering equipment from factory to site, including delay in start-up. Second, construction: erection all-risk with clear handover terms between contractor and owner policies. Third, operations: property damage, business interruption, and machinery breakdown calibrated to the project's revenue model. Fourth, liability and environment: public liability, and where relevant, environmental impairment cover that satisfies both regulators and development finance institutions.
The framework matters because gaps between stages are where claims go wrong. The most common dispute in renewables claims is not whether damage occurred but which policy, and which party, was on risk when it did.
What developers should do early
Engage insurance advice before financial close, not after. Lender insurance requirements shape the program, and retrofitting cover to satisfy a facility agreement is always more expensive than designing for it. OLEA's construction and engineering specialists work alongside developers, sponsors, and lenders' advisors from the term sheet onwards.