{"id":108211,"date":"2025-01-15T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/?p=108211"},"modified":"2025-01-15T13:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:07:12","slug":"panel-manufacturers-offer-hail-resistant-models-for-small-yet-significant-us-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/panel-manufacturers-offer-hail-resistant-models-for-small-yet-significant-us-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Panel manufacturers offer hail-resistant models for small yet significant US region"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the constant race to do more with less, solar panels in the utility-scale space have been getting more powerful but also larger, heavier and bulkier. To cut costs and weight of the two largest components on a bifacial module, manufacturers reduced each piece of glass to a 2-mm thickness. But soon, a new problem arose on bifacial projects sited in the middle of the United States: these panels with thinner glass were sustaining more damage than panels with backsheets during the region\u2019s common hailstorms. Maybe cheaper, lighter glass wasn\u2019t the right choice.<\/p>\n

Solar panel manufacturers found that the easiest and, honestly, most obvious thing to do was go back to the traditional 3.2-mm glass thickness. JinkoSolar recognized the hail problem in 2021 and released the thicker-glass bifacial module EAGLE G5b<\/a> to the North American market.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jinko module illustration<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere was a mass migration to dual-glass products, mostly for cost reduction, and the glass was getting thinner and thinner. We were anxious about hail exposure and the thinning out of the glass,\u201d said Adam Detrick, U.S. director of product management and technical services for JinkoSolar U.S. \u201cWe decided to differentiate and keep our eye on hail, so we went with a 3.2-mm glass, transparent backsheet panel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just using a thicker piece of glass isn\u2019t the full story though. Companies like Jinko, Trina Solar and LONGi use tempered instead of heat-strengthened glass on its hail-resistant brands. Tempered glass is five-times stronger than heat-strengthened glass, said Brenden Frazier, product manager at Trina Solar US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe front glass being a greater thickness allows that tempering process to be done more easily,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of typical 2-mm glass is heat-strengthened, and there is a good amount of strengthening when you put it through that heat process, but it\u2019s not nearly as strong as a fully tempered glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trina developed a hail-resistant version of its Vertex N<\/a> bifacial module that will begin shipping Q2 2025. In addition to tempered glass, the module has a transparent backsheet. Backsheet quality<\/a> a decade ago was questionable, another reason why brands moved to dual-glass designs, but things have improved, especially with transparent backsheets.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years ago, we would highlight a backsheet module as being a concern,\u201d Frazier said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve done a lot of work in that realm, a lot of work with our TOPCon reliability and extended backsheet reliability tests. We\u2019re putting this hail-resistant module through full testing and have full confidence in the performance and reliability of the backsheet.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the first to really explore hail-resistant designs, Jinko worked with DuPont on a Tedlar-based transparent backsheet that has proven itself over the last three years on Jinko projects. Detrick said that as the 3.2-mm glass, transparent backsheet design is now catching on with other brands promoting hail-resistant modules, Jinko is pushing the envelope again, this time back to dual-glass models.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we looked at deploying our TOPCon product to the United States, we looked at how we could do this even better,\u201d he said. \u201cOur new G6X<\/a>, introduced in 2024, is a dual-glass version of the hail-resistant product. It\u2019s not just glass thickness; there are multiple elements that go into a hail-resistant module. Construction and materials matter. We have a recipe on what we think works best with a dual-glass format. We\u2019ve branded it EAGLE Talon Glass, and that\u2019s what we put on the G6X product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jinko won\u2019t reveal the properties of its proprietary glass technology, but modules with EAGLE Talon Glass have been tested by Kiwa PVEL and RETC and received top performer and high achiever markers. While the IEC testing standard requires solar panels to withstand 25-mm hailstones traveling at 23 m\/s, Jinko\u2019s EAGLE G6X line can withstand 55-mm hailstones at the same speed \u2014 larger than a standard golf ball. With the probability of regular golf-ball sized hail events increasing due to climate change, Jinko\u2019s dual-glass hail-resistant panels should perform well in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned that the best solution isn\u2019t necessarily completely intuitive,\u201d Detrick said. \u201cEveryone is just talking about thicker glass being better, and we keep coming back to that not being the only thing, there are other factors to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the details of Jinko\u2019s new module design aren\u2019t published, one can compare datasheets. Jinko\u2019s 2-mm, heat-strengthened dual-glass module has a height of 30 mm and weighs 68 lb. The 3.2-mm tempered, transparent backsheet module is 35 mm and 61 lb. The new dual-glass module using EAGLE Talon Glass is back to 30 mm but weighs 83 lb.<\/p>\n

The new design from Jinko shows that not all solar panels are easy to install solo, but also, not all solar panels need to be hail-proof. Hail is not a problem everywhere in the United States, so solar projects in Nevada, for example, don\u2019t need to have the heaviest, strongest panels available. That\u2019s why all the brands making hail-resistant modules are still making the heat strengthened 2-mm dual glass designs along with 3.2-mm alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to look at our hail-resistant modules myopically like, \u2018Here\u2019s a BOM that does great for hail. It has to do these other things too,\u2019\u201d Detrick said. \u201cWith its heavier, thicker construction,\u00a0EAGLE G6X has a much higher wind resistance than standard modules so we\u2019re advertising it globally as a complete\u00a0extreme weather solution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the constant race to do more with less, solar panels in the utility-scale space have been getting more powerful but also larger, heavier and bulkier. To cut costs and weight of the two largest components on a bifacial module, manufacturers reduced each piece of glass to a 2-mm thickness. But soon, a new problem…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":108213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3004,2650,5120],"tags":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPanel manufacturers offer hail-resistant models for small yet significant US region<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the constant race to do more with less, solar panels in the utility-scale space have been getting more powerful but also larger, heavier and bulkier.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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