Are Bears a Risk for Solar Panel Installations?

Solar panel installations have been on a rising trend due to the availability of solar energy, and the technology is constantly improving. Although solar panels are durable, solar cells are fragile.

This makes them vulnerable to damage from animals, falling tree branches, and falling objects, among other things.

If you live in areas close to bears’ habitat, you may be wondering, “do bears pose a risk for solar panel installations?”.

Yes, bears can pose a risk for solar panel installations depending on what part of the world panels are installed, if bears' natural ecosystem is disrupted and how high panels are installed from the ground.

Your mind is probably trying to analyze the situation. You are probably thinking;

How high should I install my solar panels?
Can bears reach them?
How can I secure the solar panels against damage by bears?

Well, calm down; we are going to analyze this for you.

Let’s first understand the common types of solar installation.

Types of Solar Panel Installations

There are different types of solar panel installations which include but are not limited to:

Roof Installation – the solar panels are mounted on the residential or commercial rooftop.
Solar Road Canopies – Solar road canopies are also called solar carports and are installed over highways, parking lots, driveways, among other free spaces.
Ground-mounted Installations – Ground installations mainly occur in large-scale solar farms. However, some homeowners prefer installing them on the ground at an elevated and inclined level instead of rooftop due to tree shades covering the roof.
Large-scale solar farms – These are utility-scale solar installations. These solar panels are often installed at an open field and are elevated from the ground and inclined by a support structure.
Other Installations – People are coming up with other new and creative installations such as on car roof racks for electric cars, on windows for home and commercial buildings, traffic lights, road lifts, among others.

Your solar panel installation probably falls in one of the above categories.

You may be asking yourself;

How does that relate to bears?
Why would bears damage my solar panel installation?

Well, to fully answer these questions, we need to understand how bears behave.

Understanding Bear’s Behavior and Its Impact on Solar Panel Installations

Understanding bear behavior is crucial in creating a safe environment for peaceful co-existence between bears and human beings and their infrastructure (including Solar Panel Installations).

Let’s get to the details.

Bear Habitat

If you live eastwards of Western Europe, Asia, North America, or near the arctic sea, you have probably seen a bear in the wild.

Those who live close to their habitat may have probably seen one walking past your compound fence or crossing the roadway to the other side of the forest.

If you don’t have a fence in your compound, a bear can visit you at your home compound or where you have installed your solar panels.

Bears rarely, if ever, choose to live in human-populated areas. However, this may happen especially where:

People move into bear habitats.
The bear is displaced from its usual territory caused by fire, separation from its mother, the presence of another bear, among others.
Bears are looking for alternative sources of resources such as food or water.
The bear is attracted to unsecured foodstuffs, garbage, or even solar installations.

Bear Reaction

Naturally, bears are not ferocious or destructive, and their likelihood of damaging your solar panel installation is very low.

However, if you threaten a bear, its first line of defense is to run away. It will probably run on your solar panel if they are very close to the ground or knock them down if they are firm. This may ultimately destroy your solar panel installation.

Bears Are Curious Animals

Bears are curious animals and will check out the source of noise, smell odors, or even inspect objects to determine if they are edible or something interesting to them.

If they notice a shiny thing like your solar panels, they may walk away at first, but they will check it out later.

The bear may inspect your low-lying solar panel installation. When this happens, the bear may cause damage to the solar panels, unsecured wiring, or supporting framework while moving around.

Bears Can Climb

Did you know bears, especially the black ones, are excellent climbers?

When a black bear perceives a threat, it may run away or climb a tree. If it climbs a tree near your rooftop, its weight may break weak branches which can cause damage to the solar panels.

If the bear climbs along a weak branch that bends over your solar panels installed on the rooftop, the tree branch may break, and the bear may fall on them, causing damage. The impact may also destroy the roofing, which can be expensive to repair.

Most adult bears weigh between 70 – 500 kg. If they climb on the solar panels installed on the ground, they may destroy the solar cells since they are a few millimeters thick.

The bear’s weight may also cause the solar glass surface to break or tilt the supporting framework. However, this is an infrequent occurrence.

Bears Can Stand

Bears can also stand on their two hind legs to better smell, hear, see or inspect something.

Thus, if your solar panels are ground-mounted at a low elevation, the bear can curiously and easily stand on two feet and “inspect” your solar panels.

Their body weight and force may knock down low-lying solar panels or step on wires and damage them.

How to protect solar panels from bears?

Install motion sensor lights on the roof to scare away bears.

Powerful lighting that is activated with a motion sensor will scare away curious bears and nocturnal animals.

Motion sensor lights also discourage raccoons, squirrels, and other wild creatures from hanging around your rooftop solar panel installation.

Install a bear-proof fence around the panels

Install a solid fence completely encircling the panels to keep out large predators such as bears and mountain lions. You can use an electric fence if you want to give the bears a small shock that will discourage them from approaching.

Use an animal repellent

You can use animal repellent to keep away hungry bears and other predators. There is special motion-activated spraying equipment that you can install around your fence or on top of your roof.

Make sure to remember where you have installed or when the equipment is activated. Otherwise, you will end up spraying yourself or other people.

Make noise or play music

Bears and other predators will be afraid of sudden unexpected noises since they might be a sign of human presence or danger.

You can use a digital horn again activated with a motion sensor in order to scare bears away from your home.

Make climbing difficult

Yes, bears can climb but this does not mean that they will climb everywhere no matter how challenging it is.

Make climbing harder if your solar panels are installed on your roof by placing spikes or other preventative measures at the upper parts of your home.

Don't leave food or leftovers outside

Bears can be attracted by food and garbage. Make sure to keep all the items inside a garage or storage area that is secured at night.

Also, don't put bird feeders near your solar panels, or else you'll attract more hungry bears!

Get a guard dog or two for protection

Who doesn't like dogs, right? They can be a great ally when it comes to keeping bears away from your property.

Even in case of your dogs can't manage to scare a hungry bear, dogs still can help as an early warning system, by barking at any approaching bear.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, bears can endanger your solar installation. However, this is dependent on where they are installed and how high they are off the ground. There is a greater risk if your solar panels are installed slightly above the ground.

The bear may accidentally knock them down when running away or inspecting or step on the exposed wiring system causing damage.

While bears pose a risk to your solar panel installation, the likelihood of a bear damaging it is extremely low.

If you notice bears near your solar installation, please install a strong fence around it and make sure the wiring is not exposed.