That one bankrupt US solar cell company the US government loaned half a billion dollars to (Solyndra) made solar panels that were full of silicone oil.
It's not as unlikely as you'd think in Texas. The two major sources of strangers knocking on my door are landscapers and roof repairers. I have a buddy whose whole job is to canvas neighborhoods after hail storms asking if people want estimates.
Golf-ball sized hail is relatively uncommon, but general hail in Texas is probably more common than you think. We had 33 hail storms near me last year, with 4 golf ball sized reports. One was "hen egg sized", which is a terrifying thought.
It happens often enough that Texas solar farms will need to have an answer for the capex to work out. Either with tougher panels, or maybe some kind of retracting shield.
> Crazy that people were concerned about "chemicals leaking" -- do they think the panels are full of goo?
They probably don't know; I honestly don't either. If I were taking a wild guess, I'd think like 90% glass, 9% silicon, 1% some kind of probably-carcinogenic metal.
When I was visiting Dallas a few years ago an Uber driver brought up Texas sized hail. Apparently it is a thing and is frequent enough to be something locals make chit chat about, at least in parts of the state.
P.S. you get the weirdest Uber drivers in Dallas, or at least I have. These have included a Bitcoin bro who showed me his Alcor cryonics bracelet (instructing them on how to freeze him if he dies) and someone talking about the Illuminati and their influence over hip hop music. Both got five stars and a good tip. I pay extra for that stuff.
Golfball size hail storms happen all the time around Dallas. I'd say baseball size hail is unusual. Only 1-3 storms a year around the metrolplex. And grapefruit size hail is rare (thankfully! One hit the suburb next to me a few years ago and hailstones penetrated people's roof, went through the drywall into their house!)
That's not true about hailstones. It wasn't common to have golf-ball sized hailstones, but neither was it rare. I'd say it happened once a decade or so. They were sometimes much, much larger. I have photographs of me holding one about the size of a baseball.
I'd roll my eyes at the idea of "chemical leaking" (while at the same time not exactly wanting to grind one up and sprinkle it on pizza). It's absolutely the case that places in the middle of the country that get thunderstorms and tornadoes also sometimes get ginormous hailstones, the kind that can literally kill you if you're caught outside unprotected.