Why Risk It? Rethinking Insurance Decisions in £50m+ Energy Projects

By Emily Vernon, LIG CEO

In the UK energy market, where capital-intensive projects dominate, the stakes are high, and so is the spend. With 60-80% of major project budgets typically allocated to equipment, infrastructure, and physical assets, the question isn’t just how to protect your investment, but why wouldn’t you?

Whether it’s offshore wind farms, grid upgrades, or hydrogen infrastructure, the lion’s share of project spend goes into the “kit”: turbines, transformers, substations, control systems, and more. For a £50 million project, that’s £30–£40 million tied up in physical assets before a single kilowatt is generated.

These assets are not just expensive, they’re mission critical. A delay in delivery, damage during installation, or failure during commissioning can derail timelines, inflate costs, and erode stakeholder confidence.

Despite the scale of investment, insurance decisions are often made late in the project lifecycle, or worse, treated as a tick-box exercise. Why?

• Perceived cost: Insurance is seen as an overhead, not a strategic safeguard.

• Complexity: Policies can be hard to navigate, especially across multi-party projects.

• Optimism bias: Teams assume things will go to plan, even when history potentially suggests otherwise.

But here’s the contradiction: the cost of comprehensive insurance is a fraction of the potential loss.

Forward-thinking project leaders are flipping the script. They’re treating insurance not as a cost, but as a risk transfer strategy that protects timelines, budgets, and reputations.

In a market where kit spend dominates, taking risks without insurance is not bold, it’s blind. With £50m+ on the line, the real question is: why gamble with your project when protection is within reach?

Insurance isn’t just about covering losses, it’s about enabling confidence, unlocking investment, and ensuring delivery. In today’s energy landscape, that’s not optional. It’s essential.

LIG: Insurance that moves with your kit

At LIG, we don’t leave protection to chance. Every project we deliver is backed by fully comprehensive insurance; from the moment the kit is in our possession to the second it’s safely landed on site. It’s not just about covering risk; it’s about delivering peace of mind, and professional assurance at every step.

Sources: www.gov.uk| www.ice.org.uk