New York, Dec. 11, 2012—Assurant, Inc., a premier provider of specialty insurance, today announces it will work with Solarrus Corporation and its subsidiary, True South Renewables, Inc., a full-service solar operations and maintenance company, to reduce project risk and improve the long-term financial viability of commercial-sized solar photovoltaic installations.
The two companies plan to leverage Assurant's financial and risk management expertise as well as Solarrus' engineering skills and technical knowledge to reduce commercial-scale solar project risk, enhance project investment opportunities and better service customer needs. Assurant plans to leverage Solarrus' subsidiary, True South Renewables' (TSR) operations and maintenance (O&M) expertise, to provide field service support for the warranty management component of its Assurant Solar Project Insurance product for projects in the 100 kilowatts to 3 megawatts range. The companies also plan to build an asset management program, allowing solar project owners to contract for technical, financial and operations management to optimize system performance and protect their investment.
"Assurant is committed to providing superior customer service and innovative insurance products to meet the needs of commercial-scale project developers. By collaborating with Solarrus, we recognize the potential to provide superior O&M service offerings to our customers," said Jeanne Schwartz, vice president of new venture commercialization for Assurant. "We plan to take advantage of the core strengths of both companies and work to help solar project developers address the growing demands of investors and lenders for long-term project protection."
TSR's O&M services include preventative, corrective and condition-based maintenance that ensure the energy output from solar arrays are maximized to ensure consistent and ongoing project revenue generation.
"This unique arrangement brings together two industry innovators to meet the risk management needs of solar project developers," said Bill Klein, chief executive of Solarrus. "Our proven O&M practices and solid results in maintaining solar arrays help ensure projects across the country continue to perform and generate consistent energy output. Working with Assurant, we can help further strengthen the industry and solidify the operations and maintenance standards."
In May 2012, Assurant launched a solar insurance bundle that includes liability and property coverage as well as a warranty administration program. Co-created with developers, lenders, brokers, solar service providers and equipment manufacturers to ensure superior coverage, Assurant Solar Project Insurance serves the underserved and emerging mid-sized solar project development market.
For more information about Assurant Solar Project Insurance, go to www.assurantsolar.com.
About Assurant
Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and select worldwide markets. The four key businesses -- Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits -- partner with clients who are leaders in their industries and build leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments. Assurant provides debt protection administration; credit-related insurance; warranties and service contracts; pre-funded funeral insurance; solar project insurance; lender-placed homeowners insurance; manufactured housing homeowners insurance; individual health and small employer group health insurance; group dental insurance; group disability insurance; and group life insurance.
Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has approximately $28 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York's financial district. www.assurant.com.
About Solarrus and True South Renewables
Solarrus is a privately held company headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. Solarrus provides operations and maintenance services contracts to solar project developers through its subsidiary - True South Renewables (TSR). A nationwide company and the largest independent solar O&M service provider in North America, TSR works to maintain high system availability, improve energy yields and protect against delays in a system achieving a return on investment. A pioneer in operations, maintenance and independent commissioning of large commercial and utility-scale solar energy facilities, TSR operates 200MW of both distributed generation and utility scale solar installations in the US and Canada. For more information, visit www.TrueSouthRenewables.com or www.Solarrus.com.
Media Contact:
Vera Carley
Director, Media Relations and Financial Communications
Assurant, Inc.
[email protected]
Phone: 212.859.7002