73% Of Solar Farm Losses Come From Brutal Hail Assault—Is Yours Next?

While solar farms are supposed to harvest sunshine for decades, Mother Nature has other plans. Hail storms are absolutely demolishing solar projects across America, causing 73% of all financial losses despite representing just 6% of incidents. That’s not a typo.

The numbers are staggering. Baseball to grapefruit-sized hail traveling at 150 mph doesn’t just damage panels—it obliterates them. Average claim? A cool $58.4 million. In 2022 alone, the renewable energy insurance sector hemorrhaged $300–400 million from hail damage. One bad storm can transform a 25-year investment into twisted metal and shattered glass.

Nearly half of America’s solar capacity sits in hail-prone territory. Texas and Nebraska have already seen entire sites wiped out. Here’s the catch: 99% of US solar plants face a 10% annual chance of encountering hail over two inches. Do the math over 25 years. Every solar farm will get hammered at least once. The notorious 2019 Midway Solar disaster in Texas alone resulted in $70-80 million in losses from a single hail event.

The insurance industry is having a meltdown. Record payouts. Coverage gaps. Projects stuck in limbo because nobody wants to underwrite the risk. Meanwhile, solar manufacturers squeeze margins so tight that module quality suffers, making panels even more vulnerable.

Labs are testing these supposedly “hail-proof” panels, and guess what? They’re breaking more often than before. Thicker glass helps, sure. Tilting panels during storms—called “stowing”—reduces damage. But when Mother Nature hurls ice grenades at 100 mph, good luck. The engineering challenge intensifies when you consider that PV panels operate best at 25°C, but extreme weather brings both scorching heat and devastating hail.

The real problem? Many solar farms occupy land with sketchy historical weather data. Risk models underestimate the danger. Developers build first, worry later. Then reality hits—literally.

Climate patterns aren’t helping either. America averages 158 days of damaging hail annually, and that number keeps climbing. Insurance data shows claims are getting bigger and more frequent every year.

Solar’s promise of cheap, clean energy for decades sounds great until a single afternoon storm reduces your multimillion-dollar investment to scrap. The industry better figure this out fast, because right now, hail is winning. And based on the data, your solar farm could be next.