Do Solar Panels Break In Hail Storms

Tall trees near the rooftop installations can cause breakage when the branches fall directly over the panels.

Do solar panels break in hail storms.

Solar panel manufacturers test their products to ensure that they are capable of withstanding hail storms. The national renewable energy laboratory nrel researchers also work diligently to develop quality tests to ensure that solar panels will survive harsh weather like in a hailstorm 3 and not just in the wet or rainy seasons. In fact a 2017 hailstorm in denver that caused severe damage across the city proved the durability of solar panels. Can solar panels be damaged by hail.

Generally solar panels can endure hailstones up to one inch in size 25mm at a falling speed of 50 miles per hour. When hail hits the protective housing of the solar cell the ice will break into chunks or bounce off of your roof. A solar module or panel that is installed properly and tilted to face south should never break from hail. Back in 2011 the smaller 200w panels were the go.

Unusually large hail storms can indeed damage solar panels but solar panels are designed and engineered to generally withstand hail the size of golf balls or smaller. In the last 7 years i d guess we ve replaced 10 panels due to hail shattering the glass. In most cases solar panels are tested and certified to withstand hail of up to 25 mm one inch falling at 23 meters per second approximately 50 miles per hour. The larger panels being used now have a larger area of unsupported glass which makes them more susceptible to shattering.

While hail certainly could damage some types of solar panels the likelihood is very small and occurrences are extremely rare. There are several cases where solar panel systems came out almost completely damage free after huge hurricanes like hurricane harvey and irma as well as other severe storms including a hail storm in the denver area that only damaged one out of 3 000 solar panels. Many solar electric modules and. In fact manufacturers actually test their solar panels to ensure that hail storms won t be an issue.

Up until a couple weeks ago we would tell people we ve never seen a solar module panel being damaged from hail.