RETC (Renewable Energy Test Center)

In comparison to natural disasters, extreme weather events are higher-incidence, lower-severity events, such as unseasonal or unusually severe thunderstorms and hailstorms. Though extreme weather events result in more insured losses than natural catastrophes do, insurance claims associated with the extreme weather loss category are not inevitable or unavoidable. Register for our April 2, 2025, webinar (10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT)—featuring RETC's president and CEO, Cherif Kedir—to learn how you can prevent or mitigate damage and financial loss associated with extreme weather events: ?? https://lnkd.in/erWd4ez2

Congratulations to our colleagues at VDE Americas on the official launch of the VDE Hail Risk Atlas. The "Solar Project Financial Risk Exposure" maps, available via the ArcGIS Marketplace, incorporate PV module hail resiliency curves based on RETC's first-of-its-kind hail durability test!

Join us for the 2025 PV Reliability Workshop, hosted by the?National Renewable Energy Laboratory?in Golden, CO, from March 4 to 6! RETC, part of the VDE Group, will present the initial results of a first-of-its-kind test program designed to differentiate PV product designs based on UVID vulnerability or resilience. Our UVID test program will provide industry stakeholders with answers to common questions regarding test results and degradation modes: ? Is UVID transient or permanent? ? Does light soaking reverse UVID effects? ? What is the best way to test for UVID? ? Is UVID a linear, non-linear, or sudden-drop degradation mode? Register for PVRW today: https://lnkd.in/gjzuyGbD

Though the insurance industry has long relied on probabilistic risk assessments to provide coverage sustainably, the challenge posed by solar projects is twofold. First, limited historical data is available to understand extreme weather risks, especially considering the rate of technological change and market expansion. Second, the natural catastrophe data that insurers typically rely on do not capture “uncategorized” extreme weather events, such as damaging hail, the leading cause of insured solar project loss. VDE Americas, a catastrophic risk mitigation specialist, has overcome these challenges by working with leading climate scientists and geographic information systems to map meteorological and financial hail risks.

"These results provide conclusive evidence that operationalized stow protocols are effective at preventing #solar module glass breakage during a severe #hail event. On the one hand, we found that PV modules in a hail-stow position sustained no direct hail-related damage from a one-in-500-year #hailstorm. On the other hand, we found a relatively modest amount of hail damage at a portion of the plant that we know did not achieve complete hail stow. This clearly indicates that overall site damages could have been much worse if not for successful solar project hail stow protocols." https://lnkd.in/gnvXEm4n

These are important products for projects in hail-exposed regions. Our hail durability test data show that PV modules with thicker, fully tempered front glass are approximately twice as resilient to hail impacts as modules with thinner, heat-strengthened glass. https://lnkd.in/gM9sWtZN Tracker defenses can further improve operational hail resilience. But stronger glass provides an intrinsic benefit, one that accrues regardless of hail stow angle or storm wind direction.

"Chinese solar leaders have called for an end to the toxic competition on module prices that has sent prices tumbling, at last week’s 2024 Annual Conference of the Photovoltaic Industry. At the event,?attended by?PV Tech Premium, industry leaders reflected on the challenges facing the Chinese solar industry, including unsustainably low prices, and a greater push for localised manufacturing, rather than international imports, in key markets such as North America and Europe. Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA)....noted that, while Chinese PV exports grew year-on-year in the first ten months of the year, the fall in prices meant that the value of these exports has fallen year-on-year." https://lnkd.in/gKxuWAin

"The growing trend of building larger and thinner #PV modules has contributed to an increased number of breaks in module glass at utility-scale #solar projects, although there is no single contributing factor more influential than the others. These are the conclusions drawn by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which published its findings in a paper assessing the impacts of module design on glass vulnerability titled ‘Tough Break: Many Factors Make Glass Breakage More Likely’. The report identifies 'spontaneous breakage' – cracks that emerge across panels with no clear point of origin such as a hailstone – occurring more often in thinner and larger modules, particularly those using sheets of glass thinner than 3.2mm, or 'usually' as thin as just 2mm." https://lnkd.in/gz73vXiV

Learn how commonsense solar project design and operational measures can prevent catastrophic hail damage, the leading cause of insured losses.

Do the up-front cost savings associated with PV module value engineering efforts come at the expense of reduced resilience to field conditions of use? To learn more about how module glass breakage signatures have evolved over time, we interviewed Ralf Schulze, an expert in quality assurance, failure mode and effects analysis, system diagnostics, and corrective and preventative maintenance. Check out this subject matter expert interview from our 2024 PV Module Index Report: https://lnkd.in/gd_xx4UQ