<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/as-giant-hailstones-hit-the-sunshine-state-solar-industry-looks-to-new-tech-to-protect-against-wild-storms/>
"Hailstones measuring as large as 9cm pelted south-east Queensland over the
weekend, smashing rooftop solar arrays and threatening large scale
installations – underlining the business case for a wave of anti-hail
innovations to protect against bigger and wilder storms.
Hail is now a top priority for insurers in Australia because hailstones are
getting bigger, says Andrew Percival, head of sales at Chinese solar panel
manufacturing giant Trinasolar.
“The other day, we were at a forum… their concern is the amount of projects in
the US [that are vulnerable to hail storms], but also here in some of our
cyclonic regions where hailstones are becoming larger than the Australian
Standard is currently approved for,” Percival told
Renew Economy at the All
Energy conference last week.
“The insurance companies like [the new panels designed to withstand bigger
hailstones] because… they see the damage increasing, and they know that project
sizes are becoming larger. So if hail wipes out 500 megawatts (MW), it becomes
expensive.”
Percival says the company’s new Shield modules, when combined with tracking
systems that can stow the panels in a protective position, can withstand 55mm
hail “rocks”.
He also says one outcome from the recent forum is instead of putting more
pressure on developers, the insurance industry will start looking to “get
involved” in how panels are tested and to what level, with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the Australian Standards body.
In 2023, the solar industry was concerned that insurers would stop insuring
projects in hail-prone locations.
The current standard for solar panels is to withstand stones up to 35mm in
diameter – much smaller than the giants lashing Queensland’s solar regions
Toowoomba, Brisbane and Western Downs over the weekend.
Australia’s hail corridor is northern New South Wales (NSW) and north into
Queensland. The country’s biggest recorded hailstone was 16cm in diameter in
the sunshine state town of Mackay.
But those zones are set to expand, with bigger hail coming more often as
climate change alters the severity of weather systems, according to research
from UNSW in July.
“We looked at changes in hailstone size between simulations of historical and
future periods,” said lead author Dr Tim Raupach from UNSW Sydney’s Institute
for Climate Risk and Response, in a statement.
“And we can see increases in hail size produced by the model around Sydney,
Canberra, Melbourne and Perth.
“For example, in past simulations, very large, 10 cm hailstones were expected
once every 20 years around Melbourne. But in a warmer future, it’s once every
three years.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
