Are solar panels damage resistant?

Question

How well do they deal with hail damage and snow acummulation?

Answer 1

There's a new type of solar conductor out there, it's backordered, but acts more like fabric - making it highly resistant to things like that.  Sorry I don't have more info ready, but google it.

Answer 2

Solar panels are extremely costly up to 10,000 dollars and no, most solar panels are not damage resistant.They can easily shatter due to hail and snow can block out the sun anyways.  If you are fine with spending more money for better solar panels, go ahead.

Answer 3

Modern panels are rated to withstand hail up to a certain diameter, and you can insure against more extreme events.  A link to the PV testing standards is below.

Snow isn't a problem for a properly installed panel.  Some of the earliest sites for PV were on radio repeaters up on mountains, where there can be snowfalls of several feet at a time.  If the mountings support the panel properly and can bear the weight, the snow eventually falls or melts off.

Answer 4

You might want to do some shopping around for solar panels that can tolerate the climate in your area, but generally I would say that they can probably hold up to normal inclement weather, since they are made to be placed outside.

One of my grandfather's friends has used solar panels to power his entire house for some time now, and living in Appalachia, he sees all kinds of temperature extremes and sometimes some pretty heavy snow accumulation, so neither of those should really be a problem.  Hail, on the other hand, might cause some trouble if you don't shelter the panels before a big storm.  Since solar panels are a fairly sizeable investment, you might want to do some research on what to do with them during inclement weather.