Wind and Solar Overtake Gas: A Milestone, and a Signal for Insurers
For the first time on record, wind and solar generated more of the world’s electricity than natural gas. In April 2026, the two reached 22% of global supply against gas at 20%: a record 531 TWh, some 54 TWh ahead of gas’s 477 TWh (Ember, May 2026).
This reflects a clear trend now observable in the data, not just the forecasts.
Across the whole of 2025, renewables overtook coal to become the world’s single largest electricity source[1].
Global clean output rose around 13% year-on-year, led by China (+14%), the EU (+13%) and the UK (+35%).
And this could be just the beginning if Elon Musk's comment is to be believed that:
"Energy from the Sun [reaching Earth] in an hour is more than humanity consumes in a year".
For the (re)insurance market, this marks a structural shift in where insurable value lies, and it should reframe how insurers and claims professionals think about exposures and claims.
Three implications:
1. The premium pool is changing. As capital moves out of thermal and into wind and solar, the centre of gravity for energy underwriting moves with it. The renewable energy insurance market is already around $19bn. It is projected to reach around $28bn by 2031, with offshore wind the fastest-growing segment, that favours carriers who have built genuine renewables capability.
2. The risk profile is different. Renewable assets carry a distinct signature: capital-intensive construction phases (CAR/EAR), weather-dependent output, and concentrated, high-value installations, offshore wind especially, with its marine, cable and supply-chain dependencies. The loss data is striking. Subsea cables account for around 77% of the total cost of offshore wind losses and up to 80% of construction claim payments, despite being just 10 to 20% of capital spend. Contractor error and component defect account for 55% of cable claims by frequency and 83% by value. The average claim nearly doubled over the last decade of data, from £1.67m to £3.08m.
3. Modelling is lagging behind loss history. Capacity is expanding faster than loss experience can mature, so insurers could be pricing rapidly scaling portfolios on thin data, while geographic clustering raises real questions about accumulation and Nat-cat aggregation. The lessons are already there: hail accounts for barely 1% of solar claims by number, but over half of total solar loss value; and a single battery storage incident has been seen to run to more than $100m in insured losses.
For those of us advising insurers on major, complex and technical losses, our focus is on understanding the assets (technical, commercial, stakeholders, supply chains), the construction contracts, the interface risks, and the business-interruption and delay-in-start-up mechanics that follow when a turbine, inverter or subsea cable fails, then quantifying and mitigating those exposures when a claim arises.
The energy mix has tipped. The exposure base is tipping with it. The question for the market is whether the technical understanding is keeping pace.
If you would like to discuss ComplexClaims renewable energy claims, get in touch with David Ward or Adam Humphrey:
David Ward dward@complexclaims.partners
Adam Humphrey ahumphrey@complexclaims.partners
[1] Per Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026, renewables (33.8%) overtook coal (33.0%) across full-year 2025 to become the largest single source.