Investment in renewable energy could drive a threefold increase in the industry’s energy insurance revenue by 2020, according to new research.

Premium volumes from energy insurance could rise from $US850 million ($916.61 million) to between $US1.5 billion and $US2.8 billion ($1.61 billion and $3 billion) based on proposed projects such as solar and wind power generation in Australia, China, France, Germany, the UK and the US.

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance report – funded by Swiss Re – matches risk management with the number of planned projects. It says project developers need to reduce risk to attract finance.

“New solar parks and wind farms require enormous investments,” Swiss Re Head of Environmental and Commodity Markets Juerg Trueb said.

“Not only that, you are also asking investors to put their money into relatively new and sometimes less-mature technologies. To reassure investors, you really need sound risk management.”

Mr Trueb says risk transfer products can cover accidents and revenue volatility caused by fluctuating energy prices or unhelpful weather.