Yesterday there was a fire on the roof of the city maternity hospital – thought to be caused by solar panels. There have also been other reports of fires being caused by these panels and a local museum/exhibition centre had to close for several months because of the damage caused when their solar panels had caught fire.
I am not anti-solar panels and I realise these are just a minority of the number of panels fitted but investigations don’t seem to be able to pinpoint just what caused these fires.
The Chinese chip embedded into every panel available to autodestruct at the whim of the manufacturer? It’s the eggs in the same basket syndrome and the same will apply to our power national infrastructure given enough time and Interntional contract tendering.
In Australia therewas a requirement that there be isolation switches on the roof to protect fireman from the voltages produced by solar panels. I say was because I am not sure if that is still true.
I have never heard of a fire being caused by solar panels and they are everywhere here. Probably bad wiring rather than the solar panel. I believe in the UK there is no requirement for electrical wiring to be carried out by a licenced electrician.
If you’ve ever used a magnifying glass to focus the sun and burn holes in things, then I suppose given the right conditions the panels could do the same, they are made of glass. I heard about fires being caused by those fancy glass ‘Bulls Eyes’ that look nice in doors if placed on the sunny side.
All the info on fires stemming from solar panels in fact point to poor installation of the electrics or lack of maintenance checks and not the panels themselves. Such poor electrics cause arcs or sparks to ignite flammable materials on the roof, or even leaves trapped under the panels (see comment about risks of lack of maintenance). The panels themselves do not catch fire.
