Featured in Battling the elements – 09-2025

Storm-proofing your PV data

Extreme weather is no longer a rare event for PV sites across the United States. It’s a costly, recurring reality eroding performance, reliability, and profitability. Wayne Burnett, chief strategy officer and chief technology officer at sensor equipment supplier EKO Instruments, offers insights from projects in hard-hit regions. With lessons learned from the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, he examines how these are shaping best practices for long-term energy yield and resilience.

By

pv magazine

08 Sep 2025

Lightning surges are an often underestimate risk to PV monitoring equipment. | Image: EKO Instruments

From hail in the Midwest to hurricanes in the Southeast, wildfires in the West and dust storms in the Southwest, US solar projects face location-specific threats potentially causing billions of dollars in annual losses. Modules and inverters get the most focus in protection efforts, while measurement technology, especially pyranometers and reference devices, is often overlooked. …

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