[Aeddan (OP)]

The heavy rain/hail over the past few days has got me wondering about the sensibility of buying solar panels.
Some countries get gold ball sized hail that smash anything made out of glass.
The biggest hail recorded in the uk is ...
"Horsham, 5th September 1958: A hailstone weighing 141g was recorded."

How lightly is it that in the 25 year life span of the solar panels they will get smashed by hail ? (in the uk that is)
I dont see us managing to stay below 2C of warming,there for think pessimistically when answering

[alancalverd]

I regularly fly over a couple of solar farms that have been established for about 5 years, with maybe 500 large panels in each. I haven't seen any wind or hail damage yet.

Major problem with hail on greenhouses (and certainly on aircraft windscreens!) is I think due to rapid buildup of the mass of ice rather than individual impacts. With a maximum sun elevation of around 50 - 60 degrees in the UK and a weighted average closer to 40 deg, solar panels have a fairly steep slope so there is little buildup.

[Bored chemist]

At the risk of tempting fate, it seem that the incidence of glass destroying hail storms in the UK is less than one in every about 150 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperate_House

[evan_au]

If you are worried about hail, you could include your solar panels in your household insurance against hail damage...

More likely is rain; water in coal mines is a continual problem - and pumping it out doesn't stop the problem, as it moves a lot of contaminants into nearby streams.

Let's face it - responsibly manufactured solar cells are a cleaner source of electricity than irresponsibly mined and burnt coal (or most other fossil fuels).

[Petrochemicals]

The breaking of glass is largely due to the size of it ie length versus thickness,the leverage, if you try to break something that is half as long it's twice as difficult, if properly made hail is not a threat to solar panels. Imagine if the glass in your mobile phone was twice the length how easily do you think it would break

[Bored chemist]

The breaking of glass is largely due to the size of it ie length versus thickness,the leverage, if you try to break something that is half as long it's twice as difficult, if properly made hail is not a threat to solar panels. Imagine if the glass in your mobile phone was twice the length how easily do you think it would break

Whatever...

[Scientist30]

Oh wow, I didn´t have a bad experience with hail on my solar panels before. But in my country there are no big hailstones, thank god!

[alancalverd]

water in coal mines is a continual problem - and pumping it out doesn't stop the problem, as it moves a lot of contaminants into nearby streams.

All those "contaminants" were once part of the natural forest that grew where the mine is now, so how can they be contaminants?

[Bored chemist]

water in coal mines is a continual problem - and pumping it out doesn't stop the problem, as it moves a lot of contaminants into nearby streams.

All those "contaminants" were once part of the natural forest that grew where the mine is now, so how can they be contaminants?

A major problem with the water from old minings is sulphuric acid.
Are you really labouring under the delusion that sulphuric acid was a major component of the forests?