Net Zero Disaster 11

[Oops409]

Texas, USA: A single hailstorm reduced thousands of acres of solar panels into a pile of debris—leaching toxic materials like lead and cadmium into the soil.

Expect a lot more of this as a result of the aggressive globalist push to achieve "net zero emissions" by 2050.

 

[dik]

There may be more of this stuff on the horizon. There is a reason for trying to achieve 'net zero'. Just take a gander at the latest rapid intensification of the last hurricaine and the large number of fatalities. This may only be a precursor.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[3DDave]

I'd rather discount the breathless worries of any reporting that uses the word "globalist" to describe an engineering problem.

The claims are nearly pure BS. For example, one of the mentioned materials is cadmium telluride, which is apparently insoluble in water, eliminating the possibility it can "leech" into ground water.

Recall that Texas is the state where people froze to death because they could not operate natural gas fired electrical generation.

In any case, if hailstorms become more of a problem the panels can be tilted to protect them.

 

[Oops409]

Key takeaways

Hail storms occur between March and October. States that receive the most hail include Texas, Colorado, and Nebraska.

Hail can damage the external surface AND internal components of solar panels.

Not all solar panel warranties cover hail damage. Most homeowners’ insurance provides hail coverage for solar panels installed on rooftops.

High-quality solar panels are very resistant to hail damage and have been tested to withstand such severe weather events.

No matter which side of Net Zero you are on, the biggest problem we face is ourselves. Politicians and special interest only provide knee jerk solutions, that have typically ignored the negatives and just promoted the postives, to maximize their profits.

Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska have more hail storms than any place in US. So they locate out solar panel farms there, where risk is highest of catastropic failure! I am sure if real engineering was involved in decision making and realistic long term plans implemented, a lot of these type of disastered could be mitigated!

Quote indicates more durable system options available, however due to cost it appears inadequate quality panels were selected for the environment installed.

But special interest like the reoccuring profit model to replaced failed panels in an emergency situation where large areas are without power fue to one hail storm!

 

[TugboatEng]

3DDave, I suggest researching groundwater contamination by PCB's. It's another hydrophobic compound but under certain conditions it can mix with groundwater

 

[FacEngrPE]

Well this risk is not unknown to the insurance industry. When the rates get too high hail risk will become a site selection criteria.
Hail return frequencies are available from VDE - LINK .

VDE Americas' hail return interval data covers the Continental United States (CONUS) and is available as an organization-level subscription. This set of data includes the return interval (RI) in years for naturally occurring hail (NOH) ranging in diameter from 25 mm (1 in.) to 95 mm (3.7 in.) and the maximum estimated hailstone diameter (dmax) for cumulative return intervals (e.g, 40 years or 100 years). The return interval metric characterizes the estimated amount of time between discrete events. Typical return interval periods for this data set include <25 years, 25–50 years, 50–100 years, 100–250 years, 250–500 years, 500–1,000 years, 1,000–5,000 years, and ≥5,000 years.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Think I read somewhere there is a 200 MW with 600 MWh of battery going in near Las Vegas next year.

 

[3DDave]

You mean individually molecular PCBs vs. crystaline cadmium telluride?

Those are not comparable risks.

Did you know that there is a lethal amount of water one can ingest? Better keep water out of wells.

It's bad enough there are Chicken Littles, but now come the flock of Chicken Liars.

 

[TugboatEng]

The European Chemicals Agency ECHA classifies cadmium telluride as very toxic to aquatic life.

 

[3DDave]

Gasoline fuel and diesel exhaust still carcinogenic? Let's make the huge risk into a far smaller risk.

 

[TugboatEng]

Gasoline and diesel float on water. Much easier to manage.

 

[IRstuff]

The CdTe layer in a solar cell is sandwiched inside a bunch of other layers of stuff, so is not easily accessible for immediate leaching, not to mention that the thickness of the CdTe layer is at most 10 um.

https://www.nrel.gov/pv/cadmium-telluride-solar-cells.html

Note that the leaching potential for Cd from CdTe is often based on testing ground up CdTe, which would not be the case with broken solar panels, since the exposed CdTe would have an extremely small surface area.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/leaching-test

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

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[TugboatEng]

It's a big assumption to make that the panels would break up into chunks and that they layers wouldn't separate. Is the bond between the CdTe and silica molecules stronger than the silica to silica bond?

 

[IRstuff]

Is the bond between the CdTe and silica molecules stronger than the silica to silica bond?

The layers are deposited using an epitaxy process, so only slightly less strength than pure bulk material. Moreover, the CdTe layer is 8 um thick, so this is not something that separates, otherwise we'd have massive failures of all sorts of PV panels and infrared sensors, just from temperature cycling.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[waross]

Care to drink some water that has been contaminated with gasoline or diesel fuel, Tug?
I know of a case where cattle were dropping deformed calves as a result of diesel contamination in the ground water.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[3DDave]

If you cannot tell, you won't like the answer.

 

[Oops409]

Perhaps they are using the same Scientist/Intelligence Agencies that Bush used to cite "Weapons of Mass Destruction" as. reason to launch a War against Iraq?

Or the Covid 6' separation scientist?

 

[stevenal]

SEIA-why-you-dont-need-worry-about-broken-solar-panels

 

[TugboatEng]

Waross, at least I can taste the diesel or gasoline if the levels are high enough to be harmful.

 

[dik]

Excellent link stevenal...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik