In the study “HailStow Performance in April 2025,” VDE evaluated the operation of GameChange Solar’s hail stow for a utility-scale solar facility in hail-prone Arkansas in the United States.
The purpose of the study was to confirm the performance of GameChange Solar’s hail mitigation system, which can be installed to protect solar assets from catastrophic hail damage. For the study, VDE reviewed operational data during six storms that passed near the study site over a three-day period and met the criteria to trigger a hail stow. In all cases, the system successfully went to the desired steep stow angle, where solar panels are tilted to deflect direct hail impact. In the report, VDE notes, “For this study period, the HailStow system worked as designed, including processing hail warnings, issuing activation emails, and moving the trackers to hail stow position.”
Hail mitigation has been a genuine concern for owners and insurers of solar power plants throughout the United States and other hail-prone locations. As one of the top three global manufacturers of solar trackers, GameChange Solar has worked closely with VDE to develop a rigorously tested hail mitigation system, delivering advanced protection that helps safeguard assets, reduce risk, and support long-term performance.
“With hailstorms across the globe intensifying, it is critical to install hail mitigation systems – like GameChange’s Solar Genius Tracker HailStow – which are effective in reducing solar panel damage due to hail,” said Jon Previtali, VP and Senior Principal Engineer at VDE Americas. “In our role to protect and extend the economic value of solar assets, we continue to advocate for advanced weather alert services, proactive hail stow implementation and frequent testing of hail stow systems.”
“This successful validation by VDE is the result of a strong engineering partnership and a shared commitment to rigorous, real-world validation,” said Scott Van Pelt, Chief Engineer at GameChange Solar. “We developed the Genius Tracker HailStow to provide a fast, reliable response that helps protect solar infrastructure from catastrophic hail damage. By working closely with VDE, we ensure that our systems provide top tier hail protection, long-term asset reliability, and insurability in hail-prone regions.”
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.