Would A Solar Flare Destroy Solar Panels

Given a legitimate need to protect earth from the most intense forms of space weather great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun some people worry that a gigantic killer solar flare could hurl enough energy to destroy earth but this is not actually possible.

Would a solar flare destroy solar panels. Solar flares have a better potential to take out the utility transformation system then a small pv system. Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the sun that release an enormous amount of energy equivalent to a trillion little boy atomic bombs exploding at the same time. Solar flares occur in a power law spectrum of magnitudes. Another form of an eruption from the sun s surface is the coronal mass ejection cme which is the release of the sun s matter.

Additionally the inverter itself may at a minimum blow a fuse. A solar flare is a sudden flash of increased brightness on the sun usually observed near its surface and in close proximity to a sunspot group. Solar flares are huge eruptions of energy from the sun s surface and are considered to be the biggest explosions in our solar system. But it does produce a magnetic shockwave that extends billions of miles out into space.

The magnetic fields built up from the flare will create surges that will over load the weak points faster then their oc protection can work to isolate them. In the case of a solar flare or cme your inverters will shut down the rest of your solar energy system to protect it from any further damage. An emp is an electromagnetic pulse that is released when lightning strikes or. It has been known since the early years of the space program that energetic particles from the sun and cosmic rays from elsewhere in space produce physical damage to silicon based solar cells the most common and lowest cost technology used for satellite power generation.

The weak points are their transformers and capacitors. Powerful flares are often but not always accompanied by a coronal mass ejection even the most powerful flares are barely detectable in the total solar irradiance the solar constant.