As the offshore wind industry continues its progress towards large scale and general standardisation, insurance structures must evolve to reflect changing risks, contractual interfaces and operational realities. One of the contributions of the Nordic insurance community (Cefor) in cooperation with Equinor ASA and the Nordic Shipowners’ Associations, has been the development of the Nordic Offshore Wind Insurance Conditions[1] (NOWIC) launched in November 2025.
NOWIC builds on the long-standing Nordic tradition of collaboratively developed insurance conditions. Similar to the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan, it has been drafted with input from insurers, policy takers and industry practitioners with the aim of balancing interests across the value chain rather than reflecting any single party’s position. This collaborative model is intended to support a more predictable and transparent allocation of risk by agreeing to a standardised set of insurance conditions.
Structurally, NOWIC is anchored in the well-established principles of the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan, which have been adapted where necessary to reflect offshore wind realities. It adopts an “all risks” approach and rests on an extensive commentary which forms an integrated part of NOWIC.
A central feature is the “unit” concept, which divides a wind farm into functional components such as wind turbines, substations and cables, each identified by an agreed value. This approach allows for more sustainable exposure management and brings a greater clarity to the claims process.
NOWIC also addresses well-known loss drivers in offshore wind. For defects, it introduces a standardised clause for serial defects and a default position where resulting damage is covered unless specifically limited, while still allowing parties to adjust the level of cover through agreed alternatives.
Additional elements include dedicated structures for supplementary covers for various consequential losses typically insurable in this segment as well as provisions for cover against loss of revenue.
The broader ambition behind NOWIC is not to redefine market practice, but to offer a coherent alternative that promotes clarity and predictability through standardisation. By relying on an agreed framework with integrated commentary, it aims to reduce the potential for disputes and improve efficiency in claims handling over the lifecycle of a project.
Following its launch, feedback from across the offshore wind and insurance markets has been actively collected with the aim to build on the efforts put into drafting of NOWIC. Recently, Cefor has established a dedicated Offshore Wind Forum to consolidate this input, support a structured review process and to represent Cefor members’ joint interest within the offshore wind segment.
With the intention to commence the review process over the summer, the Forum will be approaching the original parties who participated during the drafting process. Following that, the aim is to consider bringing in additional stakeholders to ensure that the development process remains inclusive and representative of market needs including seeking comments from the IUMI members active in the offshore wind segment.
Through this combination of structured feedback, ongoing engagement and a collaborative foundation, NOWIC represents a step toward a more stable and transparent insurance framework for offshore wind, one that can evolve alongside the industry it is intended to support.
[1] https://cefor.no/clauses/nordic-offshore-wind-insurance-conditions/
