Hail is Not a Huge Concern for the Growing Solar Industry in the Northland
DULUTH, Minn. — In recent years, solar panels have increased in popularity as an alternative energy source for homes, businesses and power companies here in the Northland. However, as we try to capture energy that is produced in nature, the weather itself can cause the greatest setbacks.
This past summer, there were reports across the country of solar panels being damaged by severe weather, specifically baseball-size hail. With the increasing popularity of solar energy, we spoke with local experts to find out if severe weather is a concern for people considering solar panels.
“Hasn’t been a huge concern for us. Haven’t seen really huge hail storms hit at least our customers’ panels thankfully. Not to say it couldn’t happen, but they’re pretty strong panels regardless,” said John Hageman, office manager at Wolf Track Energy.
Wolf Track Energy designs and installs solar panel systems for homes and businesses here in the Northland. Hageman tells us that to his knowledge, the company has not replaced any panels due to hail damage in their over five years of operation.
“These panels right here are rated to about an inch and three eighths size of hail. So they’re pretty resistant. They’re covered by tempered glass, so they’re pretty strong when it comes to hail,” said Hageman.
Minnesota Power operates four solar farms in the region, three of which have been built in the last two years. Customer programs representative Paul Helstrom says hail damage is not something they have had to deal with on any of their solar farms.
“We don’t have any direct experience and I haven’t heard a lot even from our residential customers or commercial customers, or on our own solar arrays for damage due to hail at this time. That can change. All it takes is one good hail storm in the right place that could do some damage,” said Helstrom.
I did some digging, looking up storm reports in the Northland going back to 2006 and every couple of years on average we get a report of hail the size of a baseball, which is just under 3 inches in diameter. Softballs, on the other hand, are about 4 inches across and I could only find two reports of hail that size in the last 20 years.
As much of a threat hail is to solar panels in other parts of the country, here in the Northland, hail large enough to do damage is rare enough that it is not even the greatest risk to solar panels. That title goes to snow.
“Snow is probably a bigger concern as far as, like, weather related events for solar modules in the Northland. First, just from a performance perspective, when snow’s on the modules they’re not going to be producing power. But then as you get more and more snow, if the snow doesn’t get taken off just like a roof, the modules can start to flex, the glass can flex. I had one particular customer this year send me pictures of several modules on the bottom of his array that had flexed so much it had pushed the frame of the module off. The glass didn’t actually break, but the module was obviously affected and damaged because of the heavy snow load pushing down on those solar modules. So snow load can be an issue,” said Helstrom.
Most insurance providers will cover damage to solar panels through homeowners insurance, but there are exceptions to watch out for so it is best to go over your policy with your provider. If you are considering getting solar panels and are concerned about hail, snow, or wind, the best thing to do is to know and understand the weather where you are.
“Solar arrays generally are built to withstand all of these things except for far on the extremes. I think the biggest consideration a customer wants to make is where are they siting these things and just looking around and paying attention to where it’s going and what happens at that site on a regular basis,” said Helstrom.
From small residential systems to large commercial set-ups, Minnesota Power currently has over 800 customers using solar. That number has only grown each year as energy costs continue to rise.
