That's unclear. You may want to seek local professional tax advice.
It is clear that repairs are not allowable. It is also clear that installation of new capacity in a future year is allowable, as that would be a new system, even if it is tied into the old system.
The law is not specific on end-of-life replacement or damage replacement. (If the panels are at their designed end of life after 20 years and you replace them; or if you must replace--not repair--damaged panels.)
My opinion (and I am not a paid professional) is that replacing part of your system due to damage would be considered a repair of the system, and not installation of a new system. Since it is a repair of the system, it is not eligible, even though it would be full replacement of the 3 damaged panels. Each panel is a component of the overall system, like the inverter--you definitely could not claim a credit if you had to replace a damaged inverter, because it is just one component that repairs the system, so I don't think you can claim it on damaged panels.
