Protecting Solar Panels During Transport

Protecting your solar panels during shipping is important to avoid things like visible cracks, to microcracks that you won’t even notice until you start up your system. The unfortunate part of how new these systems are is that there’s no established manual for how they should be packaged, loaded, transported, and unloaded. Let’s look at the dangers associated with packaging and transporting solar panels and how you can avoid them to ensure your panels arrive in the absolute best condition possible.

Setting Standards

The first thing that needs to change is, unfortunately, something that’s out of your control as a consumer: standards need to be put in place for all packaging and transporting of solar systems. While there is also the issue that no two panels are created equal when it comes to various manufacturers, general rules and guidelines should be put in place to avoid the destruction of this expensive and complex equipment.

The most frustrating part about receiving a messed-up panel is that the panel took so much time and money to create. From the manufacturer’s perspective, they spent a ton of effort creating the best panel they could for you, just to have it ruined and possibly having to replace it, which might mean starting over. For you as the consumer, this is obviously frustrating because of how much money you spent on your quality equipment, and you’ll probably want to go through the long process of getting a replacement, which means it will also take longer to set up your system.

What You Can Do as the Consumer

Being the consumer is difficult in this situation because you aren’t the one who packs up and sends off your panels, and you probably won’t ever speak to anyone but the person who unloads it. That is the first step. When the unloader arrives, you can be sure to keep a watch on what they’re doing and make sure everything is unloaded the way it should be. While it’s true you might not want to get in their way, it’s also true that you’re the one who has to pay the price if something comes out damaged.

You should also make sure you do research into the company transporting your equipment. While you might not have control over who the panel manufacturer chooses, you can control which panel manufacturer you choose to purchase from. Make sure you choose a solar panel manufacturer who ships with a company that knows what they’re doing.

What Could Go Wrong

So you may be asking yourself: what’s the big deal? After all, a small crack isn’t that big of a deal, and if you can’t see it from the ground, why does it matter?

The problem is that while you may only see a small crack, what you can’t see is the microcracks. There may be microcracks even if you can’t see other damage, and if you can, the likelihood increases by a whole lot.

The problem is that panels are very sensitive to mechanical pressure, which means that unless handled with the care they need, it’s super easy to damage them.

If your system ends up with microcracks, it could risk having a shorter life cycle, as well as not operating at its full efficiency. While a small crack might not seem like a huge deal, it can completely devalue your expensive solar system.

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