Where I live there's always clear skies and lots of sunshine, because of that lots of homes have solar panels. About 5 years ago we had a hail storm that was real bad, sky lights had holes punched through them, so many cars were damaged that companies set up shop here to pull the dents out, and several cows were killed. The one thing I never thought about until now is the damage hail might do to solar panels. Look at the below solar farm, the damage is pretty bad and will take months to fix. I hope they have a backup plan.
And? So have cars, roofs, and buildings under construction that have been damaged severely under hail storms, especially in the panhandle of Florida, Texas, and other states. Nothing new here. But that is what insurance is for, if you have the right kind of insurance that is.
Like oil spills\fires due to natural disasters? not to mention man made mistakes... yes, energy diversity is key, redundancy is important - would not want to put all our eggs in a oil basket either
Solar is amazing but for some reason, the left wants to take away the fossil fuels needed for the production of solar panels and sell our souls to china for THEIR products when we could easily do it all right here in our OWN country
Of course that is what insurance is for. And the insurance premiums for everyone will increase to offset the insurance company's payout, regardless if you file a claim or not. Some insurance companies pull out of markets because of huge losses for all sorts of natural disasters.
The cost of insuring solar panels in areas known for hail damage is going to be pretty high, wouldn't you say? The company that provides power to my area, El Paso Electric, has committed to going 100 percent renewable in twenty or so years. If they're going to rely on solar panels for some of that and they get hit with a hail storm, what is their backup plan? Keep in mind the hail storms in my area come in the summer when AC demand is high. We had a hail storm a few weeks ago but the hail was the size of peas, maybe a tad bigger. As for the solar farm in the picture, that's not powering a house or two, someone was relying on all the power they invested in and now they're not getting it and won't get it for months.
Because our power system is a massive network, the loss of an individual power producer is not a major problem. We can lose a solar farm or an individual wind turbine and not be a major problem. Where a solar and wind turbine system comes short is due to nature itself. On occasion in very large areas, the wind stops blowing and the sun is blocked out for weeks at a time. This is especially true for wind turbines. A large blocking high can result in light wind over areas the size of North America and it can last for weeks. The wind turbines may continue turning, however because of the light wind they are not capable of producing the torque required to provide adequate electrical power. Providing a back up for this situation is nearly impossible unless you have some oil or coal fired generators on permanent standby.
yep, then other forms of energy will have to step up production, energy diversity is best as it offers redundancy in the system
Not just step up production. It will require other forms of electrical generation to remain idle on standby.
We will know ahead of time that we will have an oil or coal shortage. Most likely years ahead. If we get a stagnant high pressure area over the US, we might know a few weeks ahead at best.
I know solar systems can turn the panel to face the sun throughout the day. Maybe turning them sideways during a hail storm would be worth the investment. I know windmills can be adjusted to avoid damage from high winds.
If you own property, you are generally mandated to have insurance on your property. When I was paying my car, I had to have full coverage, which included incidentals such as hail damage. And with my home and a mortgage, I had to have homeowner's insurance, which included roof damage by fire or hail. I just did not get flood insurance with my homeowner's property. However, yes rates do increase if there are significant losses that they cover. However, the other side is that we do not take the necessary precautions that we need too. For instance, in California where homes are in wooded areas. The number of homes that do not poot fire resistant material in their homes and on roofs is mindboggling. They take the "savings" of that cost to put something into the home that makes it look nicer on the inside with no intrinsic value whatsoever or to take the money so they can get a car more expensive than their last one even thought their income is relatively the same, and so forth. Most consumers make piss poor choices that cause a lot of these costs to skyrocket. But on the other hand, some insurance companies can be complete dicks. In 2021, we had a major winter storm. My friend's property had a water burst because of the cold which caused flooding in the home. They had full insurance coverage for the home. They filed a claim, had an adjuster, and had an inspector provide the estimate, and the insurance company rejected it and lowballed the cost. it took them a year to negotiate the terms of the repair and another six months to get their home fixed. Meanwhile, they had to live in a hotel room for that time.
It can be, but if the solar panel is part of the home, then it should be part of the homeowner's insurance policy, should it not? If the solar panel is a business, then business insurance based on gross sales will dictate the amount of the insurance policy. But whether it is solar panels or a building that houses office workers, wouldn't insurance be in the same boat if the area is plagued with natural disasters?
We have a huge solar farm out to the east of me about 5 MI. The place is actually pretty damn creepy. There's not much out there but an abandoned slaughterhouse and dilapidated migrant housing. The slaughterhouse is super creepy. I went out there riding my dirt bike once on the perimeters of the solar farm and you had to keep moving even during daylight. If you stopped for even a few seconds you were immediately swarmed by the biggest damn mosquitoes I have ever seen in my life and I am born and raised in Florida. I rode out there after dark once and saw something crossing the road that looked like a chupacabra or something. Needless to say I did not slow down for a better look. A very desolate place tucked away in the corner of the county. I wonder what kind of damage the hurricane last September did to all the panels?
Nah! Not like Darwin Mozzies! One apparently landed at Darwin Airport and they refuelled it before they realised! Still looking for the six Japanese tourists that boarded it too!
I own a home, and have full coverage. If you read the fine print of your policy, most will have a list of what they DON'T cover longer than what they DO cover. They want you to buy additional riders (at more cost, of course) to cover wind damage, flooding due to natural disasters, additional contents coverage, a dog policy, you name it. And while 'you' may not be in a known natural disaster zone, they will up that premium if anyone within X miles of you has experienced it.
That's true no matter which insurance policy you have. What insurance generally doesn't cover, unless you have flood insurance or gradual deterioration, such as foundation issues, and other things. Riders include personal property coverage, personal liability coverage, other structure coverage such as a woodshed in the backyard or detachable garage to the home, flooding, and a few others. But generally speaking, if you have homeowners insurance, with a 1% to 2% deductible based on the value of the home, and it covers the home itself, including the roof, then generally it covers roof damage from hail and other disasters. But not all insurance policies or companies are created equal though.
