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Baseball-sized hail took out a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on Friday.

The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, sparing an odd panel like missing teeth in a white smile.

Wyoming has only one commercial-scale solar farm, but a second project is under construction south of Cheyenne.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index.

Don Day, Cowboy State Daily meteorologist, said the hail would have reached terminal velocity during its descent, which is the maximum speed an object will reach when falling. The hail would have likely struck the panels going 100 to 150 mph.

Looks Destroyed

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.

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Originally posted by OcCurt:
Why in the hell would you build a solar farm in Nebraska in the first place? I hear Arizona is very sunny and hardly ever gets hail.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index.

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Originally posted by Expert308:

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Originally posted by OcCurt:
Why in the hell would you build a solar farm in Nebraska in the first place? I hear Arizona is very sunny and hardly ever gets hail.

It's how local politicians say "See? I'm green too!" I imagine they probably have one or two in Arizona. There's a big one a few miles up the highway from my new home here too. We've had a few thunderstorms, but no hail (`course, I've only been here a few months so far...)

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Originally posted by honestlou:
They should have used acrylic.

Acrylic, acrylic, acrylic.

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Originally posted by stoic-one:
The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt…

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Originally posted by x0225095:

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Originally posted by honestlou:
They should have used acrylic.

Acrylic, acrylic, acrylic.

LoL

Good one. Pretty transparent joke though.

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Originally posted by myrottiety:
Anyone know how old the istallation is? My understanding is the more modern ones are quite hardy compared to the old style panels. Much more resistant to hail strikes.

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Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Transparent Aluminum.

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Originally posted by Expert308:

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Originally posted by OcCurt:
Why in the hell would you build a solar farm in Nebraska in the first place? I hear Arizona is very sunny and hardly ever gets hail.

It's how local politicians say "See? I'm green too!" I imagine they probably have one or two in Arizona. There's a big one a few miles up the highway from my new home here too. We've had a few thunderstorms, but no hail (`course, I've only been here a few months so far...)