As the market for utility-scale solar installations expands geographically, these projects are going to be faced with a wide array of extreme weather, and have to be prepared to withstand the elements.

Wind and hail pose significant threats to solar installations, especially as large-format modules proliferate into usage. Mitigating the threats posed by these phenomena is an uphill battle against physics, cost, and even current solar industry testing and resilience standards.

Hail damage may represent approximately 60% of PV system financial claims while still a relatively infrequent event at 3% of insurance claims. These high-impact infrequent events can be difficult to assess for risk and plan for mitigation.

In this pv magazine Webinar, we will take a different approach to the conversation of hail and wind mitigation, sitting down with two of the most knowledgeable quality professionals in the industry, starting with a deep dive on the evolving nature of hail risk, before examining what steps can be taken in design, build and operation of the plants to mitigate risks and future proof projects in hail-prone geographies.

Presenters Kent Whitfield and Cherif Kedir will join us for a twist on our traditional webinar format. The event will open with a brief introduction on the threat hail poses to utility-scale PV plants, however the majority of the webinar will be opened to Q&A, in order to ensure that the issues most pressing to you are the ones addressed.

The presenters will also dive into the theory behind different mitigation strategies, including a conversation around optimal stow strategies, and reinforce the idea that the threat of hail should not be treated in a vacuum, in order to avoid unintended consequences that can be equally damaging.

pv magazine Webinar content:
• Outlining some of the risk factors for hail including location and module type
• The effect of wind on hail and what that means for stow strategies
• Active and passive mitigation strategies for lowering risk
• Avoiding treating risks in isolation
• Q&A

Questions can be submitted beforehand or during the webinar through a chat window. Tim Sylvia from pv magazine USA will be the moderator of this webinar.

Registration for this pv magazine Webinar is free of charge.