Diary of an Insurer: Aviva’s Mel Carter

Monday

My husband wakes me up at 5.30am with a green vitamin drink and a black coffee. I don’t have time to enjoy these in bed, as I have a flight to catch and I haven’t packed, so up I jump, throwing everything and anything into my suitcase.

I land in Prague at 2pm and check in to a renewable energy conference that Aviva is a key sponsor of, attended by industry experts, top renewables clients and developers. Two colleagues and I are due to speak tomorrow about the recent changes in the Battery Energy Storage Systems industry, how we underwrite these risks, and where we see the key challenges for clients.

I answer a few urgent calls and agree an extension to the construction period for one client’s project.

Aviva is hosting the introductory network drinks tonight, which seems to go well. Afterwards, we head to a traditional Czech restaurant nearby for the sponsors’ and speakers’ dinner. My colleagues and I decide to walk back to the hotel and get temporarily lost in Prague, although we do get a lovely selfie by the Christmas tree in the town square.

Tuesday

I wake up at 5.30am feeling a little nervous, and sit down to transfer my presentation notes on to note cards, practising the speech in my head as I write. Then I set off to meet my colleagues for breakfast, and we head to the conference room together.

There are some really interesting presentations throughout the day on wind, offshore cables, COP27 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference), green hydrogen, and renewables losses and claims from a wide variety of industry stakeholders, including experts, analysts, insurers, risk engineers, loss adjusters and turbine manufacturers.

We deliver our BESS presentation just before lunch, and I’m pleased that my pun about hoping everyone is feeling ‘energised’ receives suitable groans and laughs from the audience.

I’m really proud of our presentation and throughout the evening, as we relax and enjoy our time in Prague, the feedback from the attendees is really positive.

Wednesday

As I wait at the airport to catch my flight home, I reflect upon the past few days. It’s been extremely busy, but spending quality time with some of our key clients, discussing their challenges and understanding what’s important to them has been invaluable. It also given us the opportunity to have some good conversations about the work of our team.

I have a lot of emails to catch up on, so I begin reviewing my inbox and responding to the most urgent enquiries, including a contract change for a client whose project values have increased, and new business quotes for an onshore windfarm in Australia and a solar photovoltaics project in Texas.

I get home at 7.30pm, have dinner and take a walk with my husband – it’s good to get some fresh air – and then it’s off to bed.

Thursday

After a 30-minute Peloton ride, a shower and lots of coffee, I’m at my desk ready for work. There are a lot of urgent requests in my inbox but I have four client accounts that renew at the end of the week, so I prioritise those. They are mostly wind and solar portfolios in the US, but also one BESS portfolio in the UK.

I then look at some new business enquiries that have come through while I’ve been away, including an operational solar farm in Israel, a solar farm to be constructed in Saudi Arabia, an operational wind portfolio in Greece and a new BESS portfolio to be installed in the UK.

I respond to as many emails as I can before logging off at 8pm when my husband walks through the door with dinner.

Friday

It’s a quieter day today. I have one client call in my diary later this afternoon, which I need to prepare for by reading through the information provided by the broker. But first I receive calls from two different brokers asking me to agree some urgent changes.

By lunchtime I’m in need of a break, so complete a 30-minute Peloton ride before logging back on.

It’s been a fun week, but by 5.30pm I’m excited to log off, as tonight is the night we put our Christmas decorations up! I’m looking forward to a festive weekend as my 17-year-old brother is coming to stay with us and we are taking him to a Christmas fair nearby.

Mel Carter is renewable energy senior underwriter at Aviva