Site-level flood, hail and storm checks for solar and wind parks before a deal
TL;DR Hailward writes short climate hazard reports for one solar or wind park at a time, covering flooding, hail, cyclone winds and heat. Buyers, lenders and insurers order one before an acquisition, a refinancing or a policy renewal. It turns open weather and terrain data into a priced risk view a credit committee can actually read.
India's renewable fleet is big now, and it's changing hands. The latest MNRE table lists 125.65 GW of ground-mounted solar and 59.2 GW of wind[1].
A good chunk of it sits in flat, flood-prone or cyclone-exposed districts, and the people who buy, lend against or insure these parks often make do with a desk review. Does hazard data really move the numbers? A 2026 study of 424 Indian thermal and other plants put average unprotected flood losses at 19.48% of value, falling to 0.69% with 100-year protection[2].
That same study left solar and wind out entirely. The gap is real.
The seed pitched AI that predicts and prevents grid instability across the whole network. That's the grid operator's job, and this directory already covers feeder and transformer forecasting, so we narrowed it to one asset and one decision.
Hailward takes a park's boundary, layout and equipment list. It lays flood depth and frequency, old hail and storm tracks, design wind speeds and heat days on top. Then it works out what each hazard would do to this park - panels lost to hail, inverter yards under water, blades or trackers at risk in a cyclone. Each report gives a hazard score, a short loss range and the three cheapest fixes, like raising an inverter plinth or changing stow settings.
Two or three analysts check every report by hand and visit sites where the score runs high. A portfolio view lets owners and lenders compare dozens of parks at once.
Buyers of operating parks pay during due diligence, when a few lakh rupees is pocket change next to the deal. Lenders pay for portfolio screens and insurers or brokers pay at renewal to price cover.
My working assumption is ₹1.5–4 lakh per site report plus annual portfolio fees. We found no public Indian price, so treat that as a guess to test.
The fleet has grown to 299,246.53 MW of renewable capacity[1], and older parks now trade between owners. Global climate-analytics firms sell asset-level climate analytics to banks and insurers[3], which tells you lenders already expect this view. The Indian study above shows the work can be done and published[2].
We found no public figure for spending on climate-hazard checks for Indian renewable assets. The base is large though - 125.65 GW of ground-mounted solar and 59.2 GW of wind[1].
Treat that asset count as adjacent. The real market is the number of deals, refinancings and renewals each year, and you'll have to count those yourself.
Global climate-analytics vendors sell multi-peril, asset-level analytics to banks, insurers and utilities worldwide[3]. A Bengaluru energy-analytics firm pitches itself on climate resilience for asset and grid management[4]. Engineering due-diligence firms review parks for buyers but rarely put a price on hazards.
The gap is a cheap, fast, India-calibrated report built for one park and one deal.
| Difficulty | Moderate (37/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹40–80 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The data exists but it's scattered and coarse, especially for hail. The hard part is credibility, because a credit committee will ask how you set the loss ranges and whether they've ever matched a real claim. Getting claims data out of insurers is slow going.
No special licence. Hailward's reports are advisory and you aren't an insurer, broker or surveyor, so you need only the baseline.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI set loss ranges on its own. Hail data in India is patchy, and a lender's credit decision needs a method a human can defend.
Want to work out the AI layer for Hailward? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a good one for a founder with climate-data or insurance-risk experience and contacts at renewable funds or lenders. Without those buyers it's weak.
Prove one thing first - that three past damage events at real parks would have shown up as high-risk in your screen.
Plan for roughly ₹40–80 L, mostly on analysts, hazard data and site visits.
No sector licence, because the reports are advisory. You need the usual company registration, GST and DPDP compliance, and insurance surveyor rules may apply if you assess claims.
Yes, solar and wind lenders everywhere need hazard checks. Global vendors already cover some markets, so pick one where local data is thin.
The free Hailward validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the data and liability checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for owners, lenders and insurers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Hailward or something close to it? The make-or-break work is showing lenders that your scores match real losses, and I'm happy to think that through with you. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.