kWh Analytics reveals top risk management challenges for renewable energy and BESS

This year’s report arrives at a pivotal moment for the renewable energy industry as solar and wind energy production have become imperative to the US energy mix, and new renewable energy deployment shatters expectations and records. At the same time, these assets face challenges from intensified climate impacts, operational and safety concerns, and increased cybersecurity threats.

“As renewable energy becomes the backbone of the electrical grid, ensuring system resilience is no longer optional – it’s imperative," said Jason Kaminsky, CEO at kWh Analytics. “Keeping these assets operational requires unprecedented collaboration among asset owners, operators, financiers, insurers, brokers, and manufacturers. We are grateful for the valuable research and articles by this year’s Solar Risk Assessment contributors, who are helping to establish higher industry standards required to build infrastructure that withstands heightened risks.”

The 2025 report consists of 15 articles written by US and global industry partners and provides an objective analysis of the top extreme weather, operational, and battery risks facing the renewable energy sector. Top findings by category include:

Extreme weather risk

1. kWh Analytics: Hail accounts for 73% of total losses by damage amount, despite representing only 6% of loss incidents.
2. Central Michigan University: 99.27% of photovoltaic (PV) plants have a 10% annual chance of seeing Hail bigger than 2 in. in their close proximity.
3. Kiwa PI Berlin: Cross-cutting analysis reveals frame to glass deviations exceed 5% of acceptable thresholds, highlighting needs for additional quality control and module testing.
4. 60Hertz Energy: Projects can experience 6% revenue annual loss from far away wildfire smoke.
5. VDE Americas: Study shows 100% hail stow success despite severe storm exposure.
6. kWh Analytics and GroundWork Renewables: The risk of inelastic behaviour: Physics-based models may be overestimating the benefit of hail stow by 48% for ~3 in. hail.

Operational risk

1. kWh Analytics: PV sites around the country are underperforming by 8.6% on average.
2. Radian Generation: Cybercriminals targeting solar’s rapid growth: persistent threats demand action.
3. Zeitview: Hot spot prevalence on sites increased from 0.24% in 2023 to 0.81% in 2024: A Sample of Newly Commissioned Sites in North America.
4. Clean Power Research: Future climate models suggest potential -4.9% impact to PV production
5. kWh Analytics: AI models misclassify up to 20% of solar operational issues without domain-specific training.

Battery risk

• Clean Energy Associates: 28% of energy storage systems show fire suppression issues during 2024 factory inspections.
• EPRI: To date, 72% of BESS failures have occurred within the first two years of installation.
• Accure Battery Intelligence: State of charge (SOC) estimation errors for LFP batteries can exceed 15%.
• TWAICE: Lost in translation? O&M teams see up to 2x more BESS issues than asset managers.

“Insurance plays a key role in protecting our infrastructure,” said Isaac McLean, Chief Underwriting Officer, kWh Analytics. “The Solar Risk Assessment enables us to identify emerging risks and understand what data we need to inform accurate underwriting and promote resiliency among project developers and asset owners.”

Key takeaways from the 2025 report

• Hail continues to represent one of the most severe financial risks. Implementing proper module selection with thicker glass and advanced stow protocols that allow for steeper tilt angles can significantly reduce damage probability during severe storms.
• While the emergence of AI technologies presents powerful opportunities for renewables, improperly trained models can give false results. Data quality will be imperative to incorporating these tools into the industry.
• Cyber threat activity targeting renewable energy infrastructure is growing, necessitating enhanced protection strategies.
• Quality inspections of energy storage systems identify issues with fire suppression systems and thermal management components, highlighting the critical need for improved manufacturing and monitoring systems.

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global's Spring 2025 issue

The first issue of 2025 is here! The Spring issue of Energy Global starts with a guest comment by Tim Reid from UK Export Finance about expanding operations overseas before a regional report from Aurora Energy Research no the effect of negative electricity prices in Europe. Other interesting topics covered in the issue include electrical infrastructure, sit surveys & mapping, developments in solar, and much more. Featuring contributions from key industry leaders such as EM&I, DeterTech, and Global Underwater Hub, among others, don’t miss the valuable insights available in the Spring 2025 issue.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/special-reports/12062025/kwh-analytics-reveals-top-risk-management-challenges-for-renewable-energy-and-bess/