With its maritime area of 11 million km2, France has a huge potential reservoir of energy that could be used to replace fossil fuels and nuclear energy. This exceptional asset will make France one of the industry´s major players over the next ten years. Between now and 2030, France plans to invest in offshore wind farm projects to produce one extra gigawatt (GW) of power each year.
During the Assises de la Mer (annual event for the French marine community) in December 2019, Emmanuel Macron was clear: “The 21st century will be a maritime century”, emphasizing the need to “reconcile the blue economy with the protection of diversity”.
Conscious of the importance of France in the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) sector and its great potential for the future, Skowronnek & Bechnak signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with Bessé, the leading MRE insurance broker in France, to expand our risk and insurance advisory activities in this new territory, alongside a very knowledgeable, trustful and innovative local partner.
Cooperation with Bessé
We are delighted that Bessé chose our company as its exclusive partner in France and are certain that by associating our strengths and expertise with an insurance broker with such significant experience in MRE, we can provide offshore renewable energy customers in France with efficient insurance investment and claims management.
The partnership aims to create a multi-disciplinary team, unique in France, able to assist with all the “insurance” issues of its customers, with respect to both insurance markets and all the industry´s other stakeholders (operators, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, etc.), as well as the financial parties, which continue to hold the keys to the development of the industrialization phase of renewable marine energy.
As a reference advisor to the industry, Bessé has worked on more than twenty projects over the past decade, in both operation and construction phases, for all types of technologies, fixed foundation and floating wind turbines, tidal turbines, wave energy converters, etc.). In 2020, Bessé was selected to assist Groix Belle Ile floating wind farm with FEFGBI, Golfe du Lion floating wind farm with LEFGL and the connection projects for three floating wind farms for RTE.
As part of its effort to provide the best possible assistance and service in this particularly strategic sector for French industries, Bessé signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with Skowronnek & Bechnak.
Lenders´ Insurance Advisory - France
Skowronnek & Bechnak have 6.5 GW internationally recognized expertise in performing Lenders´ Insurance Advisory for Renewable Energy and Infrastructure projects. Our particular strength is our unique expertise in floating offshore wind (FOW) risks demonstrated also by Ralf Skowronnek´s appointment as Chairman of WFO-FOWT Insurance Sub-Committee and the successful progress and essential contribution of this committee to the FOW industry which is of utmost importance for the upcoming French FOW projects.
In France, we offer this particular expertise to Lenders and Investors by performing our LIA/Investors´ due diligence entirely aware of FOW specific challenges and the novel and additional risks that are related with it, compared to bottom-fixed offshore wind projects and technologies.
We very often engage in detailed technical discussions with Technical Advisors and pay particular attention to additional risk mitigation mechanisms, including reserve account and contingencies calculation for that part of the risks which are not, or not sufficiently covered by insurance.
Of particular focus in France is the French legislation and compliance with statutory requirements, including CATNAT, GAREAT and decennial liability, which are important for projects with combined offshore and onshore risks. International offshore wind project insurance policies generally do not sufficiently address the French local requirements.
For this reason, we perform a very detailed review and inquiry into sufficiency of cover, in particular liability and environmental liability insurance cover, to ensure that Lenders or Investors´ interests are adequately safeguarded.
Skowronnek & Bechnak perform LIA and Investors due diligence fully independently of insurance brokers. These services are expressly carved out from the cooperation agreement with Bessé.
