Solar Frontier’s Solar Panels Withstand Damaging Hail Test

Solar Frontier, a solar energy company based in Japan, announced that its “s-series” solar panels have passed tests demonstrating they can withstand the impact of 45mm-wide hail. That’s approximately the size of a golf ball and recognized within the threshold of damage-causing hail.

Conducting the tests, the VDE Testing and Certification Institute (VDE), an internationally accredited testing institute for electronic equipment, fired multiple 45mm-wide ice balls at 110 kilometers per hour at Solar Frontier’s panels. Standard industry tests[1]usually only cover up to 25mm-wide ice balls fired at 83 kilometers per hour.

Solar Frontier is proud to announce its panels withstood the tests, confirming their viability for use by homeowners and businesses in regions which frequently experience damaging winter storms.

Solar panels are subjected to a host of mechanical stresses on a daily basis and are expected to endure these stresses over at least two decades. Solar Frontier’s solar panels have also passed tests that demonstrate they are suitable for a host of other challenging environments, including ammonia-heavy areas (i.e., animal farms or areas with lots of birds), salt-mist areas (i.e., along the coasts), and in areas with sandstorms (i.e., deserts).

Behind the durability of a Solar Frontier panel is its solid glass surface, its aluminum frame, airtight sealant, and the precise consistency of its manufacturing process. All Solar Frontier panels are manufactured in a fully-automated production plant in Japan, where not a single human hand touches the module until the panel’s final quality inspection.

Solar Frontier has to date shipped over 3 gigawatts of its solar panels—enough to stretch halfway across the globe when lined up —to 50 countries around the world. Its solar panels belong to a technology group called CIS, denoting key ingredients copper, indium and selenium. In addition to their quality advantages, CIS solar panels generate more electricity in real-world conditions compared to conventional crystalline silicon solar panels.