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A 3,000-acre solar farm 40 miles from Houston, Texas, was massively damaged on March 15 when huge chunks of hail fell from the sky and shattered hundreds of panels, leaving the facility running at “reduced capacity.”
From the look of the pictures, it would seem that it’s operating at heavily reduced capacity.
A hailstorm this month has damaged thousands of solar panels at the 350-MW Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Fort Bend County, Texas, “Golf ball”-sized hail fell in the area on March 15, and aerial footage captured from a helicopter offered a glimpse at the extent of the damage pic.twitter.com/3G4SkaRTLI
— Nika4h (@nikit2h) March 27, 2024
Not only does the storm highlight the fragility of so-called green energy facilities, but area residents are worried about toxic chemical leaks. Needville resident Nick Kaminski spoke with a local television affiliate:
My concern is the hail damage that came through and busted these panels – we now have some highly toxic chemicals that could be potentially leaking into our water tables.
I have a family — two children and a wife. My neighbors have kids and a lot of other residents in the area who are on well water are concerned that the chemicals are now leaking into our water tables.
The company denies there is any risk of chemical exposure.
Video from the air shows what appears to be catastrophic damage to the plant:
BREAKING: Hail storm in Damon texas on 3/24/24 destroys 1,000’s of acres of solar farms.
Who pays to fix this green energy? @StateFarm? @FarmBureau? @Allstate?
Or you the taxpayer? pic.twitter.com/GpNSaopObZ
— Corey Thompson (@Roughneck2real) March 25, 2024
Meanwhile, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who represents the area, emphasized that the technology needed for us to rely solely on green energy is not here yet, and we will put ourselves in danger if we switch to it altogether before we’re ready:
“As far as solar farms being damaged where hail and tornadoes are common, those companies knowingly run the risk of building solar panel farms in these areas,” Matthews told Fox News Digital.
“Events like this underscore the importance of having an all-of-the-above energy approach to meet our energy needs and showcase how our country cannot solely rely on or fully transition to renewable energy sources like this.”
Daniel Turner, the executive director of energy watchdog group Power the Future, was even more emphatic about the need to proceed carefully with solar power:
“There’s this enormous shell game happening by the Biden administration, by the environmental left, presenting wind and solar as perfectly green, clean, and carbon-neutral,” Turner told Fox News Digital. “They use all of these buzzwords. But they’re none of that and they also have enormous drawbacks. And it’s doing the American people a great disservice to obfuscate these very obvious shortcomings.”
He noted that, because solar panels are largely manufactured in China, the destruction of solar farms could be leveraged in geopolitical disputes between the U.S. and China.
“Why would we expect them to race to our aid when our grid is down nationwide, and they are the ones holding the goods that we need to get back up?” Turner said.
The incident shows once again that we are a long way from being able to safely rely on running the country solely on renewables. Perhaps someday we’ll get there—but we’ve got a long way to go, despite what the Biden/Kerry/Doom Pixie crowd tells us.
See also:
An Inconvenient Truth—EVs Emit More Particulate Matter Than Gas-Powered Vehicles, According to Report
Solar and Wind Power Comes at Huge Cost in Habitat
