UPDATE: Here’s What Will Happen to Solar Panels Destroyed by ‘Baseball-Sized’ Hail

WLTR previously reported a vicious storm that pummeled the solar panels on a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, with “baseball-sized” hail.

Solar Farm Destroyed by ‘Destructive, Baseball-Sized’ Hail

The destructive hail storm in western Nebraska wreaked havoc on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, forcing the local community to use “traditional power sources.”

Solar panels destroyed by large hail north of Scottsbluff, Nebraska last night. #newx Photo Courtesy Matt Larsen #hail pic.twitter.com/2ND7BHmYlB

— Daryl Orr (@WxWyDaryl) June 27, 2023

The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), a state-owned public utility, told Fox News Digital the “Community Solar Project” is out of commission until repairs are completed.

It’s the latest example that shows ‘green energy’ infrastructure is vulnerable to the forces of Mother Nature.

“The solar complex was destroyed by hail,” Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer said.

“They’re assessing the damage, but it certainly looks destroyed to me,” he added.

Don Day, meteorologist for Cowboy State Daily, said the hail likely hit the panels at 100 to 150 mph.

Cowboy State Daily previously reported:

The entire region has experienced strong storms the past week, which included tornadoes, hail, heavy rains and wind.

A tornado destroyed at least one home in Scottsbluff. Much of the damage to the area was from high winds and hail, which brought down power lines, damaged trees and shattered windshields.

Kevin Spencer, Scottsbluff city manager, told Cowboy State Daily the Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the solar farm, is still assessing the damage, but it’s going to need some repairs.

“Just by looking at it, it looks destroyed to me,” Spencer said.

Spencer said there’s more to a solar farm than just the panels, and so some of the equipment at the farm might have survived the storm. He said he was previously told the panels were hail proof, but that might have meant hail up to a certain size.

UPDATE

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The solar panels rendered unusable after the hailstorm will likely be taken to a landfill.

It’s not economical to recycle or recover minerals from them.

That won’t make ‘climate change’ activists too happy.

Damaged Solar Panels from Hail Storm Will Likely End Up in Landfill Because Recycling Isn't Possible

READ: https://t.co/myQzqsr9c6

— Constitutionalist 💯 🇺🇲 (@Kc_Casey1) July 10, 2023

The Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the solar farm, is still assessing the damage to the Scottsbluff solar farm.

“They’re still working through that process,” a spokesperson told Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily reports:

While some of the solar panels at the farm may be salvageable, as well as other equipment, it’s likely many of the panels will need to be discarded.

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Even if solar panels aren’t destroyed by weather events, they gradually stop producing much electricity and reach the end of their lives in 20 to 30 years.

By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that 78 million tons of solar panels will come to that point.

Recycling

While renewable energy proponents are pinning their hopes on recycling to deal with this coming deluge of e-waste from dead solar panels, only about 10% of them are recycled, and only a small portion of any single panel provides recoverable minerals.

B.F. Randall, who has a background in project development and finance, told Cowboy State Daily that a lot of people are under the impression that recycling a solar panel means you make a new solar panel.

“A solar panel has very little mineral content relative to the volume of the panel,” Randall said. “So, it’s just not something that can be recycled in that sense.”

So much for ‘green energy’ saving the planet.