The latest partnership for Descartes;
Descartes Underwriting, the global leader in corporate parametric (re)insurance solutions for climate and emerging risks, has partnered with Nextpower™, a leading provider of solar and power technology solutions for utility-scale power plants, to introduce an integrated parametric insurance solution that uses site-level wind data from Nextpower meteorological stations to help protect solar power plant operators against the economic impact of straight-line wind (SLW) events, one of the most destructive and underinsured perils facing the global solar industry.
The new SLW solution provides up to $80 million (USD) in limits per policy globally and up to $100 million in the U.S. It can be bundled with Descartes’ satellite-based tornado and radar-based hail products to deliver comprehensive protection against severe convective storm (SCS) events.
Coverage is available through commercial (re)insurance brokers for eligible Nextpower customers worldwide. Descartes’ climate scientists and natural risk modelers leverage real-time wind speed data captured directly by Nextpower’s integrated meteorological stations, installed across all Nextpower sites.
By anchoring parametric triggers to on-site measurements, the solution is designed to reduce basis risk and help align payouts more closely with site-level wind conditions. The collaboration reflects the growing role of project-specific data in solar risk management to deliver greater precision, transparency, and responsiveness for severe weather coverage.
Nextpower tracking systems have demonstrated world-class wind resilience and durability across utility-scale solar deployments and are engineered to help projects withstand severe site conditions. The Descartes coverage is designed to complement that resilience by providing an additional financial backstop for covered SLW events that exceed expected operating conditions or create significant economic impact for project owners and operators.
With this novel integrated solution, solar power plant owners and operators with Nextpower systems gain a significant financial safeguard against damaging wind events. Its parametric structure delivers swift payouts following covered events, helping operators accelerate reconstruction and maintain business continuity following damaging SCS events. Beyond physical repairs, the coverage is engineered to help operators manage broader financial pressures, including PPA obligations, debt servicing, and tax equity stability.
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