In some cases lack of appropriate insurance policies can be an important obstacle to increased DE investment. This can be an issue at both a small scale and a large scale.

On a very small scale the issue could be whether or not an individual investing in roof top PV or a small wind turbine can use the existing products offered by their insurance company to cover their DE investments. Because DE is an an emerging technology few insurance companies have experience with DE technologies and the technologies are therefore not always covered explicitly in their policy portfolios. Some residents may be hesitant to invest in expensive DE technologies if they know that their investments are not covered in their exisitng home policies.

On larger scales insurance issues can be equally formidable. For example the unavailability of certain types of insurance for DE developers can be a major obstacle to technology uptake in industry. Specifically, in the context of investing in cogeneration, the inability to hedge against risk of thermal hosts ceasing or reducing operations (thus cutting plant revenues) is a major deterrent to investment in some cases.

As the risks associated with investment in DE become better understood by the insurance industry we can expect a wider range of insurance companies offering products to protect DE investors large and small.