Insurers have been urged to help address fire risks and other dangers in solar power assets.

Items such as roof panels degrade without regular maintenance, which can lead to safety issues, according to Industrias Services Group. The solar asset maintenance company says insurers should consider requiring insureds to undertake routine inspections and servicing.

“What’s not happening in the insurance space is two things,” CEO Daniel Lazarus told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “One is that the premiums aren’t changing as the system gets older, and as its risk profile becomes higher, due to insurers not being aware of this profile or the age of the assets.

“Nor are many insurers, from my understanding, mandating any sort of inspection or safety checks on the solar as they do for fire assets or fire doors, or a stress test for all kinds of things.

“They don’t have to pay for the inspection. They just need to mandate that it happens to mitigate their own risk.”

Industrias’ analysis of 5000 commercial solar inverters found more than 15% had serious performance or safety issues.

“Every single solar system that has ever been built and will ever be built, whether it be residential or commercial, will go through wear and tear over time,” Mr Lazarus said.

“It’s outside 24 hours a day generating electricity, and for some reason insurers are not mandating that these assets are being inspected. It’s a blind spot for the industry.”

He adds that Industrias inspected 3000 recently installed residential storage batteries and found 3% were unsafe.

“So this is not just about wear and tear. It’s also about the risks from poor installation. At the moment, from what I see – both anecdotally and from talking to a number of people in the insurance sector – solar is seen as just an asset that goes on the roof and is treated like any other static asset ... This is an asset that wears and tears over time and needs to be reviewed, just like a car.”

The Insurance Council of Australia says the industry has adjusted underwriting assessments for solar farms and other emerging clean energy risks.

“General insurers are already adapting their underwriting to meet the unique risks of emerging technologies, including large-scale batteries, solar farms, wind turbines and related infrastructure,” the council said last month.