KISTERS unveils breakthrough to forecast hailstorms

Solar developers and insurers paying close attention

A new approach to hail mitigation from KISTERS synthesizes crucial hail forecasts with real-time hail sensing, delivering a novel hail mitigation solution for utility-scale solar – before, during and after a storm.

KISTERS today announced the launch of the HailSens360, a world-first, early warning and hail monitoring system combining advanced hail sensing instrumentation with sophisticated cloud-based software, providing solar O&M teams streamlined access to localized, severe weather data insights.

Through intelligent software and sensor technology, HailSens360 synthesizes forecast data (18 hours ahead), nowcast data (60-90 minutes ahead with updates every 6 mins) along with meticulous post-event analysis detailing the full scope of a hail event. These crucial pre- and post-event insights provide invaluable decision support in high stakes/severe hail scenarios where knowledge is power, timing is everything and data drives decisions.

“We wanted to create a solution that enables solar developers to protect their assets from hail damage ahead of a hail event but to do that, we needed to build a system that allows us to better predict, precisely quantify and validate hail, then aggregate all of that information into one cloud solution for better visibility,” said Johan Jaques, KISTERS Chief Meteorologist and HailSens360 solution owner.

Every year massive hailstorms cause hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damage, such as the hailstorm that hit a West Texas solar farm sending shockwaves through both the solar and insurance industries. This watershed event along with other severe hail events has led to a heightened interest and urgency in the development of new hail prediction, quantification, and post event analysis technologies.

The technology behind HailSens360 greatly enhances the level of detail and precision measured in real-time by the hail sensor, supports swift identification of severe hail damage, while providing detailed analysis of potential microcracks which if left unattended, can lead to a host of performance issues.

This new technology shares information in sufficient time, alerting solar farm managers to stow solar assets in a safe position ahead of severe hail. The innovation also provides a more vivid picture of hail impacts than ever before in terms of hailstone size, velocity, and distribution.

“The HailSens360 is a genuine breakthrough,” said Klaus Kisters, CEO. “Precise hailstone measurement now combined with crucial forecast/nowcast data and post-event analysis will put solar developers squarely in the driver’s seat of their solar assets and have insurers breathing a little easier.”