Solar Array – Red Herring Hail

After finding their solar power array wasn’t operating effectively, we were asked to investigate for the insurance carrier.

Received by: Canaan Forslund, P.E.

The Challenge

A Denver building owner was alarmed to find that the power output of their solar power array was diminishing. A routine inspection of the array revealed an impact damage to a solar panel, so the building owner filed an insurance claim. Some storm damage was suspected, but that alone did not seem to explain the extent of power loss. The insurance carrier asked us to help investigate.

Our Approach

We performed a site inspection, documented and measured the visible conditions, analyzed weather data, and reviewed the installation against the original design documents for the solar panel array.

Our inspection found that the damage patterns to the solar panels were not consistent with hail, and the impact mark was a red herring. Instead, we identified multiple installation deficiencies with the solar panel array, including a structurally weak mounting system and a substantial lack of required ballast that caused the whole array to collapse under moderate wind loads. The system was not installed to the designed specifications.

The Results

Following our evaluation, we concluded that the reported damage was caused by design and/or installation deficiencies rather than hail. Our findings helped clarify causation for the owner and insurer, distinguish storm-related claims from construction-related issues, and provide clarity for the appropriate repair scope and responsibility.