<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms',sans-serif">Not to hijack the thread, but the timing is perfect for another related question I had. A client approached me about putting solar panels on a golf course maintenance building. The pitch is 2 in 12 and the location is supposedly not in the typical direction/are where golf balls are likely to be hit (most likely because I don't have a membership there). The question will naturally come up about golf ball strikes. We have several systems along fairways on residences and have not had any reported issues. Does anyone else have systems in the cross-hairs of errant golf balls? If so, any feedback on resistance to strikes?</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms',sans-serif">Jason Szumlanski</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms',sans-serif">Florida Solar Design Group</div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-left:0pt"><br></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 1:47 AM, Allan Sindelar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:allan@sindelarsolar.com" target="_blank">allan@sindelarsolar.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Wrenches,<br>
From time to time I see posts about hail damage. The message below
was sent internally among Positive Energy's three offices, and I
thought worth sharing here. <br>
<div>Allan, Sindelar Solar<br>
<br>
-------- Forwarded Message --------
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap valign="BASELINE">Subject:
</th>
<td>Big hailstorm in LC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Tue, 6 Oct 2015 08:04:14 -0600</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<div dir="ltr">Hi all,
<div>We had a big hail storm in Las Cruces on Saturday. Because
so many potential clients ask about how solar panels hold up
to hail, I thought that I would share a bit of what we found.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The hail that was falling was about golf ball sized. I
have seen a picture of a hailstone next to a tape measure that
was about an inch and a half in diameter. On the install that
we started yesterday, all of the customer's skylights (about
6) were busted out; not just cracked, but with big holes
punched through them. Several of our clients called to tell
us that their skylights were destroyed, but their solar panels
were undamaged. We went up onto roofs for four of our clients
that are out of town and found no damage to the PV arrays.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We have only one report of a damaged panel, which you can
see in the attached photos. This was a unique installation,
because the modules are mounted flat on a nominally flat roof,
so they have about two degrees of pitch. That means that the
hailstones hit almost perpendicular, so with more force. Even
at this installation, only one 1 out of 15 modules was
damaged. This is a Suntech module.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>All in all, our modules fared well. To my knowledge, this
is only the second time that a module installed by Positive
Energy has been damaged by hail. The first time was in Taos a
few years ago.</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div>Westbrock<br clear="all">
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message
----------<span dir="ltr"></span><br>
Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 7:19 PM<br>
Subject: Broken Panel<br>
<br>
Here is what the panel looks like! It is just like safety
glass, the entire panel is shattered.<br>
Bob<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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