Solar panel damage in Perth: what to look for and what to do
Perth panels face years of UV, summer heat, occasional hail, and coastal salt air. Learn the common damage types, who pays to fix each one, and the safety rule that matters most.
Solar panels are built to last decades outdoors, but they are not indestructible. In Perth there are seven damage types worth knowing: cracks and breakage, hotspots, snail trails, delamination, hail damage, salt-air frame corrosion, and backsheet yellowing. Two rules cover almost every case. Most manufacturing defects (snail trails, delamination, backsheet failure) are a manufacturer warranty claim. Sudden physical damage from hail is usually a home insurance claim. And the safety rule that beats both: never touch a cracked module or climb on the roof to inspect, because a damaged panel can carry live DC voltage even with the inverter switched off. Call a licensed solar electrician instead.
Perth's climate sets the pace. Intense UV, summer temperatures that regularly pass 40°C, occasional hail, and salt air near the coast all create their own failure modes. Here is what each one looks like, what it does to your generation, and who fixes it.
If you want the wider picture first, our Perth solar panel lifespan guide covers how long panels last, and the solar panel degradation guide explains the slow, normal decline that is different from the damage below.
What do cracked or broken solar panels look like?
Cracks show up as spiderweb patterns across the glass surface. If the tempered glass shatters, the backsheet (the white or black plastic backing) often holds the shards in place, but the module is still compromised.
What causes them in Perth: Hail is the most common cause, and the Perth Hills and inland suburbs cop more of it than the coast. Falling branches, a dropped tool during cleaning, extreme thermal stress, and foot traffic during maintenance all do damage too.
Impact on generation: A small surface crack might trim output a little; a badly cracked module generates far less and can trigger fault codes on your inverter. The exact loss depends on which cells are affected, so treat any single figure as a rough guide rather than a fixed rate.
What to do: Do not clean or touch a cracked module. The exposed cell area can carry dangerous DC voltage even with the inverter off. Contact your installer or an SAA-accredited solar electrician for assessment. If the crack appeared suddenly after a hail event, photograph it promptly for your insurance claim (see the hail and insurance section further down).
What are solar panel hotspots, and are they dangerous?
A hotspot is localised overheating of one cell or a group of cells inside a panel. It is one of the more serious failure modes, because a hotspot can degrade the cell permanently and, in severe cases, ignite the backsheet.
What causes them:
- Partial shading of one or more cells. Even a small shadow from a bird dropping, a leaf, or an antenna cable can make the shaded cell act as a resistive load, turning electricity into heat.
- Damaged or degraded cells running hotter than their neighbours.
- Broken cell connections that force current through high-resistance paths.
What it looks like: Hotspots are invisible to the naked eye. They are detected by thermal imaging: an infrared camera shows a hotspot as a bright patch on an otherwise even panel. That needs a thermal camera, often mounted on a drone for a full-roof survey.
Impact on generation: Hotspots cut output and speed up permanent cell degradation. As a rule of thumb, a cell running well above the temperature of those around it points to a module that probably needs replacing.
What to do: If your monitoring shows one panel producing noticeably less than the others (you need string-level or panel-level monitoring to see this), arrange a thermal inspection. Your installer or a solar maintenance company can do the imaging, and some Perth outfits offer drone thermal surveys of the whole array. Catching a hotspot early is one reason a routine solar panel health check is worth the call-out.
What causes snail trails on solar panels?
Snail trails are dark, brownish lines that creep across the panel surface over time. They come from oxidation of the silver conductors on the cell, usually kicked off by micro-cracks that are too small to show as glass damage but big enough to fracture the cell underneath. Manufacturing defects and small hail are the usual triggers.
What they look like: Thin brown or grey winding lines on the cell surface, visible through the glass. They tend to appear within the first few years after installation.
Impact on generation: The discoloured areas conduct less, so output drops. Widespread snail trailing reduces a panel's output, though by how much varies from one panel to the next.
What to do: Snail trails are usually a manufacturing defect, and most reputable brands cover them under the product warranty. Check your panel warranty paperwork. Australian product warranties on panels commonly run from around 10 years up to 25, so a fault appearing in the first decade is very likely claimable. Contact the panel manufacturer's Australian distributor directly rather than relying on your installer, who may have ceased trading. Our solar panel warranty guide and the step-by-step warranty claim guide walk through how the two warranty types work and how to lodge a claim.
What is solar panel delamination?
Delamination is the transparent EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) layer separating from the cell surface or the glass. It shows up as bubbling, yellowing, or misty patches under the glass.
What causes it: Moisture getting in (often from a damaged frame seal or backsheet), UV breaking down the EVA, or a manufacturing defect.
What it looks like: Yellow-brown or white cloudy areas seen through the glass. It is not surface dirt. Delamination sits inside the laminate, not on top of it.
Impact on generation: Significant. Delaminated areas produce less, and they open a path for moisture that can drive corrosion and further damage.
What to do: Delamination is a product defect, claimable under the manufacturer's product warranty. Photograph it and contact the manufacturer's Australian representative. If the brand has no Australian presence (some imported brands lack local after-sales support), treat it as a lesson for your next panel purchase. The best solar panels for Perth guide covers which brands back their product locally.
Does hail damage solar panels, and is it covered by insurance?
Perth gets hailstorms, mostly in spring and early summer. Most home and contents policies cover hail damage to solar panels, but the detail matters.
- Is solar actually covered by your policy? Some policies cover panels only as an add-on, and some list them as excluded.
- Is the damage above your excess? Replacing a single panel often runs to a few hundred dollars; get a written quote, because the excess can exceed a small claim.
- Did you document the event? Claims need evidence of the specific storm: weather records, photos taken promptly afterwards, and a damage assessment.
After a hail event: Do a ground-level visual check within 24 hours (binoculars help). If you see cracked glass, photograph it and call your insurer before arranging any repairs. Starting repairs ahead of the insurance assessment can complicate the claim. For the full process, see our solar insurance claim guide, and the hail resistance guide explains how panels are rated against hail in the first place.
Does coastal salt air damage solar panels in Perth?
Yes. Panels near the coast take in salt air, and over ten years or more that salt can cause:
- Aluminium frame corrosion (white oxidation on the frame).
- Junction box seal breakdown, which lets moisture in.
- Fastener corrosion on the mounting hardware.
What to look for: White powdery deposits on the aluminium frame, rust or corrosion on the fasteners, and cracked or dried junction box seals.
Maintenance: An annual inspection by a qualified solar electrician catches this early, and it belongs on the annual maintenance checklist for Perth homes. Rinsing the frame with fresh water reduces salt build-up, but avoid pressure washing, which can force water into the frame channels.
Why do solar panel backsheets yellow?
The plastic backsheet on the rear of a panel can yellow, chalk, or crack as it ages under UV, and Perth's UV is especially hard on it.
Impact: A yellowed backsheet has reduced insulation resistance, which raises the risk of electrical faults. A cracked backsheet lets moisture in.
What to do: An SAA-accredited electrician can test insulation resistance during a maintenance inspection. A cracked or badly yellowed backsheet usually means the module needs replacing.
The short version
Perth panels face UV, heat, salt air near the coast, and the odd hailstorm. Your early-warning system is simple: ground-level visual checks, an annual electrician inspection, and watching your generation data for unexplained drops. Most manufacturing defects (snail trails, delamination, backsheet failure) are covered by the manufacturer's product warranty. Physical hail damage is usually covered by home insurance. Whatever you find, do not climb on the roof to inspect it. Call a qualified solar electrician.
Money-relevant figures in this article are checked against primary sources. Here’s how we check our facts.
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