About
As the market for utility-scale solar installations expands geographically, these projects are going to be faced with a wide array of extreme weather, and have to be prepared to withstand the elements.

Wind and hail pose significant threats to solar installations, especially as large-format modules proliferate into usage. Mitigating the threats posed by these phenomena is an uphill battle against physics, cost, and even current solar industry testing and resilience standards.

Hail damage may represent approximately 60% of PV system financial claims while still a relatively infrequent event at 3% of insurance claims. These high-impact infrequent events can be difficult to assess for risk and plan for mitigation.

In this pv magazine Webinar, we will take a different approach to the conversation of hail and wind mitigation, sitting down with two of the most knowledgeable quality professionals in the industry, starting with a deep dive on the evolving nature of hail risk, before examining what steps can be taken in design, build and operation of the plants to mitigate risks and future proof projects in hail-prone geographies.

Presenters Kent Whitfield and Cherif Kedir will join us for a twist on our traditional webinar format. The event will open with a brief introduction on the threat hail poses to utility-scale PV plants, however the majority of the webinar will be opened to Q&A, in order to ensure that the issues most pressing to you are the ones addressed.

The presenters will also dive into the theory behind different mitigation strategies, including a conversation around optimal stow strategies, and reinforce the idea that the threat of hail should not be treated in a vacuum, in order to avoid unintended consequences that can be equally damaging.

pv magazine Webinar content:
• Outlining some of the risk factors for hail including location and module type
• The effect of wind on hail and what that means for stow strategies
• Active and passive mitigation strategies for lowering risk
• Avoiding treating risks in isolation
• Q&A

Questions can be submitted beforehand or during the webinar through a chat window. Tim Sylvia from pv magazine USA will be the moderator of this webinar.

Registration for this pv magazine Webinar is free of charge.
Presenters
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Kent Whitfield
VP Quality, Nextracker
Mr. Whitfield has been involved in a range of PV activities from testing, analysis and certification
through product manufacturing, system design and deployment for the past 29 years. He is a VP for Quality at Nextracker where he oversees global quality and durability. He has previously been a R&D manager and principal engineer and for renewable energy technologies at Underwriters Laboratories and held Sr. Director roles in PV module Engineering, Reliability, and Quality for Beamreach, SunEdison, Solaria and MiaSole. He has created two ISO/IEC accredited testing and certification laboratories and represents the USA for IEC standard development for PV products.
1640076926-a962e4cdf75b6cfa
Cherif Kedir
CEO & President, RETC
Cherif is the CEO and President of RETC, a leading independent test lab for photovoltaic products and batteries based in Fremont, CA. As a solar industry veteran of fifteen years, Cherif is the go-to expert on product development, product engineering, yield enhancement, performance enhancement, test site development, reliability & durability testing, bankability, and certification testing. Before RETC, Cherif held an extensive eleven-year background in semiconductors, working on product engineering, testing, and failure analysis.
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Tim Sylvia
Moderator | Editor, pv magazine USA
Tim Sylvia is an associate editor at pv magazine USA. He has been with pv magazine since May 2018. Tim covers project development, legal issues and renewable energy legislation, as well as contributing to the daily Morning Brief.
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