When hail the size of golf balls or baseballs comes crashing down, the damage can be devastating. For solar farms — and the homeowners and businesses that rely on them — a single storm can shatter panels and knock out clean power for days.
Now, researchers have unveiled a new test designed to stop that from happening.
According to Clean Technica, VDE Americas and the Renewable Energy Test Center recently introduced the Hail Resiliency Curve (HRC) Test, a first-of-its-kind protocol that fires ice orbs at solar panels until they break. Unlike older tests that were limited in terms of the conditions they could reproduce, the HRC simulates real hailstorms and measures precisely how much energy a panel can withstand.
This matters because severe storms, supercharged by human-induced climate change, are becoming more common, putting billions of dollars' worth of solar infrastructure at risk.
"The solar industry has long needed a more rigorous approach to hail testing," said RETC president and CEO Cherif Kedir. "The Hail Resiliency Curve Test fills this knowledge gap by providing our customers with actionable data on solar panel hail resilience across the complete impact energy spectrum of real-world hailstorms."
Standard panels tend to fail between 40 and 80 joules of impact energy. Panels designed with hail-hardening in mind, however, can withstand impacts of 120 joules or more, according to early results. That difference could save developers, insurers, and everyday homeowners thousands of dollars in replacement costs.
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This breakthrough helps manufacturers improve their products, but it also provides project developers with the tools to choose the safest, most cost-effective panels for storm-prone areas. Glass reliability expert Mike Pilliod put it simply: If you're not testing enough samples until they break, "you're not doing your job as a reliability engineer."
Solar companies are already adopting the test to qualify new glass suppliers and panel designs. That means consumers could soon see panels marketed with clear, supported data about their hail resistance.
This new development makes solar energy even more appealing. Installing solar panels is the ultimate home energy hack because it can reduce your energy costs to as little as $0. EnergySage offers a free service that simplifies the process of comparing quotes from vetted local installers and helps you save up to $10,000 on solar installation.
Once you've gone solar, running other money-saving electric appliances, like heat pumps, becomes even cheaper, and Mitsubishi Electric can help you find the right affordable heat pump.
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With hail-hardened technology in play, your panels (and energy costs) will become more economical than ever.
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