Since a June 23 hail storm nearly destroyed an NPPD solar panel farm north of Scottsbluff, NPPD officials and officials with Sol Systems, the company that operates and maintains the solar panel farm, have been steadily at work, first assessing the damage and now planning for its replacement.
Pat Hanrahan, general manager of retail services at NPPD, and two Sol Systems officials answered questions about the solar panel farm.
The solar farm north of Scottsbluff is the second solar farm built in the Scottsbluff area. The 5.2-megawatt solar panel farm consisted of 14,000 solar panels. On June 23, 13,650 panels were destroyed by softball-sized hail coming down in winds of 100 to 150 miles per hour.
“The panels weren’t rated to quite that high of an impact,” Adam Polis, senior performance engineer at Sol Systems, said of the wind speeds and the size of the hail. “As we saw in the community, there were a tremendous number of cars and other things that were damaged in the community. And solar is pretty resilient, but when you’re shooting something that fast at a solar panel, it’s prone to breakage.
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“The way that the modules failed specifically in this storm, the hail caused the glass on the module to crack,” Polis and Bryan Vasek, portfolio manager of the asset management team, explained.
Most of the damage occurred to the modules themselves, and not to the infrastructure or other components of the solar farm.
Hanrahan said, “One way to think about the panels ... they’re kind of like a car windshield. It fractured the glass, but there wasn’t breakage in pieces all over the place.”
Hanrahan said other solar panel farms in the state have also experienced hailstorms. However, the June 23 storm was an extreme weather event.
NPPD has been working with its insurance carrier as part of the process.
Due to the construction of the panels to protect against shattering, like a windshield, Polis and Vasek said there was little impact such as debris, alleviating one of the biggest concerns that NPPD has fielded regarding the damage. Many have expressed concerns that pieces of panels and other components may have littered the ground, but that was not the case.
In evaluating the damage and any potential effects, Sol Systems officials and others involved in the project have conducted multiple on-site inspections. Those inspections have included specially qualified contractors to evaluate the site. Hanrahan said those crews were on site within days of the storm, and plans of action moving forward demonstrate the strength of NPPD’s and Sol Systems’ partnership.
“They’re very qualified,” Polis said of the teams involved. “They built the site, they have been maintaining the site, and they’re also contracted for the rebuild of the site. They’re really the best contractor to be dealing with it.”
Sol Systems has taken all precautions to ensure safety and environmental impact has been taken into account, Polis said.
He explained that the solar panels used in the Scottsbluff solar array are Tier 1 modules, which means they are top quality, but are only rated to be resilient to hail to a certain extent. No matter the energy system — whether it be solar, wind or gas — major weather events can have an impact on the infrastructure.
“Thankfully, really the only damage that was significant was on the modules,” he said. “All the other pieces of equipment, minus just some small weather stations, remained intact.”
In forming its plans for repairs, Polis said engineers and others with the team had to evaluate other components of the system for damage and possible replacement.
Sol Systems is able to work with the manufacturers of the modules and replace them with the same modules.
“It’s a pretty remarkable procurement effort that was done, and thankfully, the system modification is going to be very minor at the end of the day,” he said.
Hanrahan said NPPD and Sol Systems have also done due diligence in ensuring that the destroyed panels are recycled, with only certified vendors involved in the process.
“The goal has been for no materials to wind up in a landfill,” Hanrahan said. “... The goal is no waste here. This is a sustainable project, even on end of life.”
Hanrahan said NPPD plans to have the solar panel farm back up and running by the end of the year.
“It’s a tremendous asset for us from our perspective, from the community’s perspective,” he said.
Through the community solar program, shares are made available to businesses and residents to participate in NPPD’s Sunwise Community Solar Program. Distributions in the share program have been suspended until the solar panel farm is recommissioned, but Hanrahan said, historically, it has had great participation from the community.
“The Scottsbluff community has been really interested in renewable energy and solar,” he said. “We’re glad that we found a great partner in Sol Systems to be able to bring that to the community. It’s a huge benefit for the community of Scottsbluff.”
NPPD has seen no shortage of interest in solar energy in the community, he said, and works with communities as interest continues to grow to extend or expand.
Solar shares have been available to NPPD’s customers through the Sunwise program. Grant Otten, media relations specialist for NPPD, told the Star-Herald that a total of 118 solar shares are available and have been sold to customers, through its original solar farm, which people can see easily near the NPPD office on South Beltline Highway. That community solar project was unveiled in 2017.
An additional 4,637 solar shares were made available to customers through the community array north of Scottsbluff, established in 2019. Of those shares, 4,570 solar shares were sold to customers. Sixty-seven solar shares are currently available and are distributed to the City of Scottsbluff until signed up for by a customer.
In Scottsbluff, the number of solar shares a residential customer can sign up for is based on their average monthly usage, and NPPD works with those customers to determine the number of shares available to them.
Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer told the Star-Herald that NPPD has a 25-year lease agreement with the City of Scottsbluff for the land that the solar panel farm sits on, neighboring the city’s soccer complex. That lease can automatically renew in in five-year increments.
NPPD officials have been in regular communication with city officials about the solar panel farm and its efforts, he said.