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Solar panels rarely damaged in hail storms

This roof was totaled by a hail storm in September 2013. The 26 solar panels were not damaged at all. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]
In September of 2013, a megastorm that caused massive flooding along Colorado’s Front Range hit. At the time, my family and I were living in a single family home in Aurora, Colo. — complete with a 5.5 kW solar system we had had installed in June of 2010.

The storm delivered a HUGE hail storm to our neighborhood and the hail totaled our asphalt shingle roof. But the solar panels were not damaged at all.Ā 

This is pretty typical: Solar panels are substantially stronger in hail than the roofs upon which they are installed. So do not pay heed to the worry that hail will destroy your solar system — and do not use this fear of hail damage to solar panels as a reason not to buy a home solar system.

Tesla has an animated GIF that shows how much better solar panels fare in hail than most roof shingles.

To the contrary, your solar panels will hold out much better than virtually any roof will.

I was just reminded of this on the Tesla.Com solar pages where they have a cool animated GIF that illustrates the hardiness of solar panels vs. asphalt shingles.



There may be some reasons not to buy a solar system in some cases for some people: Possible hail damage should NOT be one of these. Your solar panels will survive virtually any hail storm, likely unscathed.