Hail resistance of solar panels in Perth: what the standards cover and what they don't

Are Perth solar panels safe from hail? In short: yes, for the hail Perth actually gets. Every mainstream panel sold in Australia passes the IEC 61215 hail test, which fires a 25mm ice ball at the glass at about 83 km/h. That covers the small, brief hail typical of a Perth storm. It does not cover the giant supercell hail that hammers the eastern states, and it is not a promise the glass will survive everything. Crucially, hail damage is an insurance claim, not a warranty claim. So the real question for a Perth homeowner isn't "can I buy hail-proof panels", it's "does my home insurance cover the panels on my roof". Most building policies do, but you should confirm it.

That's the short version. Here's the detail.

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What does the IEC 61215 hail test actually check?

Every mainstream solar panel sold in Australia has to meet IEC 61215 certification (or an equivalent), and that includes a hail resistance test. The test is deliberately specific, which is the part most buyers miss.

The test fires:

• A hailstone 25mm across (about the size of a 25-cent piece)
• At 23 metres per second, which works out to roughly 83 km/h
• Into 11 separate points across the panel face

What "passing" means: after those impacts, the panel has to show no cracked glass, no delamination, and no drop in electrical output beyond the set limit. Pass it, and the panel is certified hail-resistant.

What the test does not cover:

• Hailstones bigger than 25mm
• Faster impacts from a more violent storm
• Repeated hits in the same storm
• Slow build-up of micro-cracks across many hail seasons

Bigger hail can still win. Stones in the 40–50mm range, the kind severe supercell storms drop on Queensland and New South Wales far more often than Perth, can shatter the glass on a fully certified panel. Certification is a floor, not a force field.

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How risky is hail for solar panels in Perth?

Less risky than almost anywhere on the east coast. Perth's Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and mild winters, doesn't brew the kind of deep convective instability that grows large hailstones. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra all sit in a higher-hail band than Perth.

Perth does still get hail. It turns up mostly in spring and early-summer thunderstorms, and it's usually small and over quickly. Hail large enough to crack a certified panel is uncommon here.

A few pockets see more storm activity than others. Perth's eastern suburbs and the Hills tend to cop more thunderstorms than the coast, and the higher ground along the Darling Scarp can lift storms into something more intense. None of that changes the headline.

The bottom line for Perth: standard IEC 61215-certified panels are a sensible match for local hail risk. Paying extra for enhanced hail-resistant glass on hail grounds alone is hard to justify here. If you want to weigh glass and build quality more broadly, our guide to the best solar panels in Perth for 2026 compares the mainstream options.

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Do solar panel warranties cover hail damage?

No. This trips a lot of people up, so it's worth being blunt about. A panel carries two separate warranties, and neither one pays out for hail.

The performance warranty covers gradual fade. A modern panel loses output slowly, around 0.5% a year for a standard PERC panel, and closer to 0.25% a year for a premium back-contact (IBC) design. That's normal ageing, and it's all the performance warranty promises. For the full picture, see our solar panel degradation guide for Perth.

The product warranty covers manufacturing defects: a fault in how the panel was built. Hail isn't a defect. It's impact damage from outside, so it falls outside this warranty too. Our solar panel warranty guide breaks down what each warranty does and doesn't promise.

So where does hail land? On your insurance. Hail damage is an insurance claim, not a warranty claim.

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Does home insurance cover hail damage to solar panels?

Usually yes, but check the wording. Rooftop panels that are permanently fixed to the building (which covers nearly every residential system) normally sit under the building section of a home policy, not the contents section.

Three things to confirm in your policy:

• Does the building cover explicitly name solar panels?
• Is storm and hail damage included, either as a named peril or under accidental damage?
• Is there a waiting period after you install solar before the panels are covered?

Most standard building policies cover storm and hail damage to fixed structures, panels included. Some exclude gear added after the policy was first written, so it's worth a quick call to your insurer once the system is on the roof. Our solar and home insurance guide for Perth goes deeper on getting your cover right.

How do you make a hail insurance claim for solar?

1. Photograph the damage as soon as it's safe, date-stamped if you can.
2. Get it in writing. Ask an SAA-accredited installer to confirm the damage is from hail, not pre-existing wear.
3. Call your insurer's claims line. They'll usually send an independent assessor.
4. Pull your monitoring data. An output drop right after the storm is strong supporting evidence.

Our solar insurance claim guide walks through the process step by step.

One thing to plan for: replacement. A system damaged five to ten years after install may be tricky to match, because panel sizes and wattages move on. Insurers typically pay "replacement value", which for older panels can mean the cost of current-generation equivalents. Ask your insurer whether that means the same number of panels or the same total capacity, because the answer changes what you get.

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Does the glass on a solar panel make a difference to hail resistance?

A bit, though less than the marketing suggests. Most panels use the same basic front glass, and they all clear the same hail test.

• Standard front glass: 3.2mm tempered glass. This is what the great majority of panels use, and it passes IEC 61215.
• Dual-glass (bifacial) panels: glass on the front and the back instead of a polymer backsheet. Each pane is usually thinner than a single 3.2mm front sheet, often somewhere around 1.6mm to 2.5mm per side. The glass-glass build helps with durability and moisture sealing, but it isn't simply "more glass, so more hail protection". Figures vary by product, so check the datasheet for the panel you're quoted.
• Anti-reflective coating: changes how much light the glass captures, not how it handles a hailstone.

Most mainstream panels sold in Perth (REC, Jinko Tiger Neo, JA Solar DeepBlue 4.0 Pro, Trina Vertex N) run standard 3.2mm tempered glass and pass the hail test. If you're weighing a bifacial option, our bifacial solar panels guide for Perth covers what the glass-glass build does and doesn't buy you.

For Perth's hail risk, standard 3.2mm tempered glass is the right call for most homes. There's no strong hail-based reason to pay up for premium glass here.

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What should you do after a suspected hail event?

Move methodically. A panel that looks fine from the driveway can still be cracked, and a panel that's clearly smashed can leave live cabling in an unknown state.

1. Check your monitoring first. The morning after, look at your inverter app for an output drop or fault alerts.
2. Inspect from the ground. Scan for shattered glass on the panels or on the ground under the array. Don't climb up for a closer look.
3. Stay off the roof unless there's visible roof damage and you have the gear to be up there safely. Damaged panels can leave rooftop DC cabling in an unknown state.
4. Call your installer. Ask for a string performance test (an I-V curve trace or thermal imaging) if you suspect damage. It confirms exactly which panels are affected before you lodge a claim. If you find clear damage, our solar panel damage guide covers your next steps.
5. Open your insurance claim with the photos and data you've gathered.

Perth's hail risk is genuinely low compared with most of eastern Australia, and IEC 61215-certified panels are built for the conditions you'll actually see here. The thing to get right isn't exotic glass. It's making sure your building insurance covers rooftop solar, and keeping your installer paperwork handy in case you ever need to make a claim.