Texas hailstorm damages thousands of solar panels at 350-MW farm

A hailstorm earlier this month has damaged thousands of solar panels at the 350-MW Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Fort Bend County, Texas, KTRK (ABC13) reports.

“Golf ball”-sized hail fell in the area on March 15, and aerial footage captured from a helicopter offered a glimpse at the extent of the damage. Fighting Jays Solar Farm’s website says insurance policies are in place to cover catastrophic events like hail storms.

Nearby residents voiced their concerns about potential leaking chemicals to local outlets. KTRK (ABC13) spoke with Fort Bend County officials, who said HAZMAT teams had inspected the area and did not find any contamination, but the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality is also still investigating.

The solar industry is losing $2.5 billion annually from equipment underperformance, likely caused by equipment malfunctions and weather conditions, according to an article in kWh Analytics’ 2023 Solar Risk Assessment.

Hail is becoming a prominent issue for the PV industry as more sites are being built in the central U.S. — a hail-prone region — and modules are moving towards larger formats with thinner glass. To mitigate the damage that hail can cause, moving panels into hail stow is an effective technique. However, since it requires moving the panels out of the optimal production angle, there is concern that utilizing hail stow will lead to a material loss of revenue.

To examine the financial impacts of hail stow, kWh Analytics simulated one year of production for a 200 MW single-axis tracker site located in Texas using PVLib and the National Solar Radiation Database. The site was modeled under two scenarios: (1) assuming no hail stow and (2) assuming a 60-degree stow during all National Weather Service severe thunderstorm watches, warnings, and advisories (collectively called WWA events). Moving into hail stow during WWA events throughout the year for this particular site resulted in a total production loss of 0.1% of the estimated annual revenue.

Last year, GCube Insurance (GCube), an underwriter for renewable energy, released a report stating that the solar industry needs to confront the escalating frequency and severity of hailstorms with pragmatic, low-cost solutions.

The report, Hail No! Defending Solar from Nature’s Cold Assault, was based on data collected by GCube over five years. It shows that hail claims now average around $58.4 million per claim and account for 54.21% of incurred costs of total solar loss claims attributable to hail. This creates a gap between the insurance requirements for solar projects and what is available in the market, leading to project delays and cancellations.

The report identifies several key factors contributing to solar project vulnerability, including inadequate hail risk models, ineffective mitigation strategies, limited and costly insurance coverage, and an uncertain funding landscape.

It also highlights how solar manufacturers, in their pursuit of reducing the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), have introduced larger solar panels with thinner, more fragile glass and have chosen locations more susceptible to hail risk, threatening the financial viability of future projects.