The recent destruction of solar panels at the Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Texas has raised concerns among local residents about potential soil contamination and highlighted reliability gaps in solar power. The 3,300-hectare solar farm was hit by heavy hail and many of its solar cells were destroyed. Drone footage of the farm went viral, showing the extent of the baseball-sized hail in action.
This incident highlighted the vulnerability of large-scale solar installations, particularly in regions prone to extreme weather conditions. Texas, like every state, must prioritize reliability when designing its power grids.
A few years ago, Texans learned another hard lesson about overreliance on weather-dependent power. In an analysis of the Texas power grid crisis in 2021, the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that:
After the 2011 outages, more than $60 billion in capital investment went into wind and solar power generation, and generating sources produced less than 1 GW of power on the night of February 16, 2021, at the height of Winter Storm Uri.
Since that crisis, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, has been trying to set new reliability standards to fill supply gaps and ensure power transmission. There are federal policies that require or encourage grids to switch to high-cost and unreliable sources of electricity generation. Among them are the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed power plant rule, which would jeopardize the ability of many existing power plants to stay online, as well as billions in funding for solar and wind projects in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Hailstorms damaging solar farms are hardly a new problem. Last year, a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was damaged in June and restarted about six months later. Not a bad return considering the labor involved in removing, replacing and recycling the panels. But what would happen if the grid used primarily renewable electricity without reliable backup sources like nuclear, natural gas, or coal?
Texas residents near the panels shared their concerns about the damage with the local FOX network. One resident said: “My neighbors have children and many other residents with well water are concerned that chemicals are now seeping into our water tables.”
To be clear, damage to a solar panel does not necessarily mean it is leaking hazardous chemicals. Solar panels are made from materials that must be disposed of in a certain way to prevent soil and groundwater contamination. EPA and state landfills have established procedures for disposal of solar panels. The same is true for most electronics, such as televisions and laptops.
However, residents’ immediate concern stems from the reality that grid planners must wisely weigh the risks of solar installations and prepare for quick cleanup should disaster strike.
Severe weather is a fact of life in many states and is not something we can avoid. It’s just something we have to prepare for and adapt to. Car dealers occasionally sell hail-damaged cars in the Midwest, and it’s not uncommon for home roofs to need repair due to hail damage.
States should prioritize reliable electricity over politicians’ wind and solar goals. Solar energy may have a place in our energy grid, but it is a vulnerable resource. This reality must be taken into account when planning our energy future.