The Lone Star State not only leads the country in terms of wind power capacity, but also is poised to overtake California as the top solar market. Whether the United States does its part to avert a global climate crisis could very well hinge on the solar industry’s ability to weather Texas hailstorms.

RETC (Renewable Energy Test Center), a subsidiary of VDE, has announced the successful acquisition of SolarPTL LLC. By combining capabilities, RETC and SolarPTL will provide clients with the industry’s best in the testing and certification of renewable energy products and systems.

Nick de Vries is the chief technology officer at Silicon Ranch, a full-service solar and carbon solutions company pioneering large-scale agrivoltaics. Here, we share highlights from a behind-the-scenes PVMI interview that explores the nexus between renewable energy and regenerative land management.

The solar industry will play a prominent role in global efforts to mitigate the worst impacts of human-caused climate change. To do so sustainably, the solar industry must minimize its carbon footprint, mitigate its environmental impacts, promote a circular economy, and field durable products and systems.

RETC proudly presents the 2023 PV Module Index Report. Our annual publication showcases industry-leading solar module technologies and manufacturers. Throughout the 2023 edition of the PVMI Report, RETC has recognized 19 different manufacturers and showcased 78 instances of high achievement.

kWh Analytics’ fifth annual Solar Risk Assessment is out now, featuring hail risk insights from RETC’s Hail Durability Test (HDT) program. Aggregated HDT data show that modules made with tempered glass are approximately twice as resilient to hail impacts as those with heat-strengthened glass.

Forensic analysis is a detailed investigation to establish the root cause of PV system underperformance. If PV module health is suspect, in-field forensic investigations, conducted before or after the commercial operations date, are an invaluable performance-risk-mitigation tool.

World leaders are counting on the U.S. to do its part to mitigate a global climate crisis—and the U.S. cannot achieve its climate-risk mitigation goals without Texas solar. Whether these efforts succeed could hinge on the solar industry’s ability to weather West Texas hailstorms.

Beyond-certification testing is one of the industry’s most valuable tools for mitigating project and supply chain risk. Environmental stresses vary according to location. Product performance differs based on exposure. With the right data, these differences are not random but rather statistically predictable.

Large-diameter hail risk is inevitable in some parts of the world, but large project losses are not. John Sedgwick, president of engineering advisory firm VDE Americas, shares some lessons learned about—and best practices for identifying, quantifying, and mitigating—severe hail risk in fielded solar assets.

American-Made Program awards $50,000 to VDE Americas-led Solar Prize team that uses RETC’s Hail Durability Test data. The Hail Cat team is developing a web-based software platform that will allow stakeholders to identify, quantify, and mitigate natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) perils associated with severe hail.

Join RETC, VDE Americas, and CAC Specialty for a pv magazine-hosted webinar on January 18, 2023. Our featured subject matter experts will share lessons learned about and best practices for identifying, quantifying, and mitigating severe hail risk based on project location and fielded PV module technology.

Developed by and for solar industry stakeholders, the first-ever commercial reliability and durability test standard for PV modules has been “separating the wheat from the chaff” since 2011. The Thresher Test was the product of a bottom-up collaborative effort involving an ad hoc team of experts led, in part, by RETC.

Funded by the U.S. government and led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1975 to 1986, the FSA Project marks the genesis of the terrestrial solar market. RETC looks back at JPL’s ground-breaking work in the first of a series of articles about major milestones in PV module reliability and durability testing.

Since 2015, insured solar project losses associated with extreme weather events are roughly twice the magnitude of those stemming from natural catastrophes. Viewed as a learning opportunity for project stakeholders, this breakdown of weather-related losses is enlightening.

The solar boom in Texas illustrates the extreme highs and lows of life on the solarcoaster. Based on its sheer size and average sun hours, Texas is blessed with the nation’s best solar resource—it is also bedeviled by extreme weather risks that necessitate enhanced product testing protocols.