OhOne of the least considered dangers of climate change is the increasing frequency of hailstorms and the size and impact of the ice chunks they produce. This, in turn, threatens one of the most promising solutions to the climate crisis: solar parks.
Last year, the number of hailstorms in Europe exceeded 10,000 and the size of large hailstones reported in Italy and Germany rose to 10 cm (4 inches) – enough to dent a car, smash greenhouses and break a solar panel. The frequency of storms and the size of hail are increasing.
In Texas, where hailstones are even larger, baseball-sized holes have appeared in solar panels, causing large-scale damage.
Solar panels require minimal maintenance since they have no moving parts, but the threat of hail may change that. Insurance companies are prepared to offer hail coverage for solar farms, but only on the condition that the panels have a mechanism that can rotate them at least 70 degrees relative to the ground so that hail only glancingly hits them.
Some newer farms that had already planned a system to turn panels toward the sun as the day progresses are modifying their operation so that the panels can be turned almost vertically if a hail warning is issued.