Insurance companies Assurant and GCube announced a partnership this week to offer comprehensive insurance and warranty management to mid-size solar photovoltaic projects.

Assurant announced earlier this year that it was introducing a new policy for mid-size solar projects. The partnership with GCube, which has specialized in renewable energy insurance for more than 20 years, will give the company better access to solar customers.

“Assurant approached GCube because they had not been involved in the solar industry before and they needed help breaking into the renewable space,” said Erin Cullen, spokeswoman for GCube.

At the same time Assurant gets marketing capability and an introduction to the renewable energy industry, GCube gets a warranty management service and a partnership with a solid company that has a long history in insurance and warranty management, said David Schroeder, Assurant vice president of operations.

The partnership will offer a comprehensive insurance bundle that provides property and liability insurance along with warranty management for solar projects ranging in size from 100 kilowatts to 3 megawatts.

Cullen said GCube works with a lot of solar projects over 10 megawatts that have designated risk managers who are in charge of pulling together comprehensive insurance packages.

“But developers working in that 100-kilowatt to 300-megawatt space might not know exactly what they need,” Cullen said.

Jeanne Schwartz, vice president of new venture commercialization for Assurant, said the decision to focus on a narrow segment of the solar market was deliberate.

“Our business is specialty insurance,” she said. “We work with complex niches and we are very excited about solar. It’s very much a growth industry.”

She said Assurant did extensive market research to identify gaps and identify the best way to fill them.

This product directed at mid-size projects is Assurant’s first step into the solar market and the company isn’t planning to make any fast moves into other segments, Schroeder said.

He said Assurant will focus exclusively on midsize PV.

“After we penetrate that market, we might look at other technologies and other sizes,” he said.