RICHBURG, S.C. — After an active hail season this past spring, you may have seen images of shattered solar panels on rooftops and in fields, destroyed in storms from Texas to Rock Hill.
Researchers with the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety say it happens, but it’s less common than you might think. And with new research, they’re hoping to find better ways to help panels weather severe storms.
Jake Sorber recently returned from a field research trip to the Midwest. He said IBHS is constantly working to understand what hail can do and the damage it leaves behind.
“The building materials that we use are unfortunately very vulnerable to hail,” he said.
From the field, those findings come back to the hail lab, where researchers recreate scientific hail to simulate storms. They pit roofing materials, siding and now solar panels against the hailstones.
Sorber said solar panels are required to withstand the impact of hailstones 2 inches or …