In 2003, JAXA sent a probe, Hayabusa, to an asteroid named Itokawa. On the way to the asteroid, there was a large solar flare which damaged the probe's solar cells. I've been searching through the site here, and I've found a couple of similar questions related to protecting astronauts from solar flares and even the impact of dust on solar panels, but I haven't found anything about the damaging effects of the Sun on solar panels.
I imagine there will be different methods in different circumstances (for instance, low-earth orbit vs geostationary orbit vs out of Earth's orbit), but what are some of the ways that the Sun can damage solar panels, and what do space agencies do to try to protect them?