Hail damages panels at Fighting Jays solar farm near Houston

What happened

A large solar farm about an hour southwest of Houston, the Fighting Jays Solar project, suffered extensive panel damage in a severe hailstorm on 15 March 2024, a spokesperson for Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners told the Houston Chronicle. The project spans 3,300 acres and can produce 350 megawatts. The spokesperson said the farm continued to operate safely at reduced capacity while the owners assessed the impact on generation, and that no risk to the local community or the environment had been identified.

The project website states that insurance is in place for catastrophic events such as a large hailstorm; expected insurance losses were not reported. The storm was reported to produce hail as large as golf balls, about 1.7 inches across, above the roughly one-inch minimum hail size panels are built to withstand. Residents near Needville raised concerns about contamination from shattered panels. Industry representatives said the project's silicon-based panels do not contain enough hazardous material to pose that risk.

Disposal of damaged panels must follow Environmental Protection Agency rules if they meet a hazardous-waste determination. The state environmental agency said it had no investigation or testing planned at the time of the report.

Contributing factors

A severe hailstorm, reported to produce hail up to about 1.7 inches across, above the minimum hail size of about one inch that solar panels are built to withstand. Whether this array used a higher rating, thicker glass or a hail-stow position was not reported.

Lessons learned

1. In hail-prone regions, operators can reduce glass damage by specifying a higher hail rating, thicker glass, or turning panels steeply when hail is forecast.
2. Catastrophic-weather cover should be reviewed as severe hail has become a larger share of solar losses.
3. Clear information on panel materials can answer community questions about contamination after broken glass.

Source

houstonchronicle.com