According to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is on track to install 200 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2020. The country is fully embracing the potential for solar to help meet this ambitious goal.

In the past two years, India has debuted its first completely solar powered airport and railway station. Even better, the country is striving to bring as much renewable energy online as possible, including a 5 GW solar power park.

India’s pursuit of solar is making it a leader in clean energy and setting a sustainable example for its neighbors.

Increasing Renewable Energy Capacity in India

India’s population is growing and with it their demand for energy. Furthermore, there are still large segments of the population that have relied on diesel and kerosene, but will soon transition to grid-connected electricity usage.

Rather than increase traditional fossil fuel fired plants, the country is getting creative with renewable energy. India’s integration of clean energy solutions has been so successful that they are already close to exceeding their 2015 goal of installing 175 GW or operational renewable energy by 2020. In fact, Prime Minister Modi has confidence that they’ll reach 200 GW by March 2020. Sustainable electricity is becoming such a dominant presence in India, that Coal India, “the world’s largest coal company, admitted that it was ‘only a matter of time’ that renewables replaced fossil fuels in the country.”

Five GigaWatt Solar Park in the Works

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently approved the development of a five GW solar park – the largest in the country – in the state of Gujarat. The park will cover 11,000 hectares in the city of Dholera.

Each Indian state is supposed to generate at least eight percent of its electricity from renewable sources, but Gujarat lags behind in meeting this target. The project will provide a significant boost in helping the state reach 8 GW of installed solar capacity by 2021.

Furthermore, Dholera has attracted the interest of several large manufacturing companies, like Airbus. The city hopes that the new solar park will help meet the future electricity requirements brought on by new manufacturing developments in the area. Preemptively developing solar and another renewable energy capacity could prove to be a valuable long term investment for the country, as India is predicted to become the fifth largest manufacturing country in the world by 2021.

Solar-Powered Transportation: Better Fuel and Finances

In April 2017, the government commissioned a solar panel installation project for the Guwahati Railway Station. The station, which handles over 20,000 passengers daily, is located in the northeastern part of the country.

Over 2300 solar modules on the roof of the station now provide enough generating capacity to meet all of its electricity needs. While the project has clear environmental benefits, it was also undertaken for financial reasons. Indian Railways, the state-run transportation system, is the country’s largest consumer of diesel and electricity.

In 2016, fuel costs amounted to about 18 percent of the company’s operation expenses – around $4.6 billion. Converting the Guwahati Railway Station to solar energy cost about $1 million, but it will save the Indian Railways about $99,900 annually in reduced fuel expenditures. The project will likely pay off in a big way because of solar panels’ long lifespans. After paying for itself in 10 years, the solar system will continue to generate for several more decades.

The Guwahati Railway Station project is just one of the ways Indian Railways is reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. In 2017, the company unveiled coach cars equipped with solar panels to power basic indoor feature, such as information displays, lights, and fans.

India’s commitment to clean energy is quickly making it a leader in solar around the world. The country’s leadership could prove invaluable to other similarly situated countries looking to develop sustainably.

If you live in an area that experiences extreme weather like hurricanes, hail, thunderstorms, blizzards, heavy winds and more, then you should take the time to learn about how your solar panels may be affected by these conditions.

In the event of a hurricane or extreme storm, knowing how durable your specific solar panels are will give you confidence in whether or not your system is protected. Although rare, hurricanes that hit the United States can cause serious damage and occur about 1.75 times per year. Hurricane Harvey, which hit Houston, Texas in late August of 2017 caused 68 deaths and around $125 billion worth of damage.

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida a few weeks after on September 10th and caused roughly $50 billion in damage. Last year was a very bad year for hurricanes in the Gulf states, and due to climate change, there is a reason to believe that these types of storms may increase in frequency and severity.

How Much Can Your Solar Panels Withstand

One reason why solar panels are so expensive is that they are manufactured to a very high quality. As a result, most high-end solar panels can withstand practically any environmental condition. When looking at hurricanes specifically, there are a couple of characteristics that you want to focus on.

The biggest damage that a hurricane can cause to a solar panel system comes from wind and water exposure. Theoretically, strong enough winds could dislodge your solar panels from their mounting structure or cause debris or other objects to hit them, but this is all dependent on how strong the winds are. Water damage is also possible, but most insurance will cover this.

Because of all this, a solar panel’s wind load rating is especially important when determining how the panel can hold up in an extreme storm. The wind load is measured in pascals, which is a unit of measurement that, in materials science, represents the stiffness and strength of a material. Most solar panels are manufactured to withstand up to 2,400 pascals, which is the same as for winds of approximately 140 MPH, but the durability varies from state to state due to their different solar laws.

Florida is one of the best states in terms of solar potential, but they are also the states that experience the majority of hurricanes in the United States. There are millions of potential solar consumers that live in areas exposed to these types of conditions, so manufacturers almost always design their solar panels with hurricanes in mind. Florida, for example, has rules in place that require the majority of panels that can be installed to be able to withstand winds of at least 160 MPH or 3,300 pascals. The panels that Solar.com provides in Florida can easily withstand more than this amount.

Here’s a clip of a solar manufacturer’s test of a solar panel against hurricane-speed winds:

Nothing to Worry About

Unless you are unlucky enough to be caught in one of the worst hurricanes in history, you should not worry about your solar panel system getting damaged in a severe storm or even in a common hurricane. There are several cases where solar panel systems came out almost completely damage free after huge hurricanes like Hurricane Harvey and Irma, as well as other severe storms including a hail storm in the Denver area that only damaged one out of 3,000 solar panels.

At the end of the day, the type of conditions that will lead to your solar panels being destroyed are also the same conditions that would likely destroy your entire home. With this in mind, you can sleep comfortably knowing that your panels can withstand even some of the most extreme weather you may experience.