Solar Panel Fires Australia

The first way is by turning off your inverter by a simple flip of the switch located on the front panel see picture below.

Solar panel fires australia.

As part of the study a survey of australian based solar installers was conducted and it was found that over 60 of these installers indicated that rooftop dc isolators were a primary cause of solar related fires in australia. Solar panels work by converting sunlight into electricity so the cleaner your panels are the more efficiently they ll be able to generate clean energy for your home or business. But it does make it possible for leaf litter to accumulate under the panels and create a fire hazard. Is my solar system a fire hazard.

Figures from the electricity safety watchdog show that in the two years to june 30 there were 24 incidents caused by defective solar panel installations. The south australian government will roll out at least 50 000 home solar panels and batteries across the state in a plan to create the world s largest virtual power plant. When choosing a supplier ensure that they are familiar with safe solar technologies and that the systems they install are rapid shutdown compliant a safe solar installer will help you choose the right system for your home or business and explain the many benefits of safe solar technologies. These technologies have been readily available in australia since 2012 so any solar fire that occurs on a solar system installed since 2012 was preventable.

Unless alternative environmental factors are at play solar panel fires are caused by one thing dc arc faults. Microinverters and dc optimised systems were developed more than 10 years ago to prevent solar fires caused by dc arc faults. In almost all rooftop solar installations there s a gap between the solar panels and the roof. Dc isolators are switches that are found on the side of photovoltaic panels.

Energy 11 16pm feb 4. Normally this is a good thing as it allows air to circulate and help cool the panels. So what are dc isolators. There are many solar retailers and installers throughout australia who provide safe solar solutions.

In actual roof fires with roof mounted solar panels fire damage has involved areas of between 1 000 and 183 000 ft 2 93 and 17 000 m 2. Dc arc faults are quite simply electrical energy flowing through an air gap which in turn creates an electrical arc. When fire departments arrive to a house fire where solar panels are interconnected to the power grid they have two options to kill the power on your solar panels and both ways are very quick.