This article is intended to raise awareness of the emerging issues and thereby be of assistance to the fire and rescue services, insurers, planners, architects, designers, building owners and fire risk assessors, as well as interested parties within the PV industry designers, manufacturers, installers and maintainers.Īt the present time there is no reason to believe that the fire risks associated with PVs are any greater than those associated with other electrical equipment. Also explained are the issues fires in such systems can present in terms of fire-fighting and the impact on the building occupants. The aim of this article is to provide a summary of the known or potential safety hazards from fires due to, or involving photovoltaic (PV) systems.
Fires involving these systems can present some unique challenges for the fire service, building occupiers and insurers. Evidence is emerging from Europe and North America of the potential for fire hazards associated, directly or indirectly, with renewable energy power generating systems such as photovoltaics and wind turbines. One of the most popular, in particular in the domestic market, is production of electricity from solar energy using photovoltaic panels, and, encouraged by government incentives, the numbers of these systems in use has rapidly grown in recent years.Īll new technologies can introduce new risks, and all new energy-handling systems can introduce new fire risks. Fire safety and solar electric/photovoltaic systemsīy Martin Shipp, Ciara Holland, David Crowder, Steve Pester and John HoldenīRE Global has been awarded a contract by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to continue fire investigation activities on behalf of DCLG until 2015.Īn important element of this contract is to ensure that findings from fire investigations are made available to the fire community, and other stakeholders.Īlong with many other countries in the world, the UK is seeking to increase the proportion of energy that is obtained from “renewable” sources, such as those that exploit wind, biomass or solar energy.
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