Josh writes: On BishopHill there is a post about a fire caused by Solar panels. The story is also on the BBC news site.
“The source of the fire is believed to be an electrical fault with a solar panel on the roof. An investigation is under way.”
The council said all its solar panels were checked annually, with those at the town hall checked two weeks ago.
ESF&RS said solar panels were no more dangerous than any other electrical product.
The additional heat created by flaming solar panels is not a bug, it’s a feature. It’s a great way to melt the snow off your roof in the winter.
While I usually appreciate Josh’s cartoons, I fail to see the “tee-hee” here.
This is unintelligent, puerile snark. It is finding pleasure in the misfortune of others because you don’t agree with them.
Our host has a fair sized PV installation on his roof, would Josh be ridiculing him, would you all be rolling on the floor if his home was on fire?
I think not.
This is unintelligent, puerile snark.
And this isn’t?
Oh, it’s “believed to be” before they start the evestigation.[sic]
More likely that some poor untrainded, [sic] unpaid “intern” with the work crew doing the renovation did something stupid and short-ciruited [sic] the output form [sic] the panels.
You complain about a journalist jumping to a conclusion and then do exactly the same yourself. WUWT?
Bonfire of Insanities: Solar Panels Start Fire at Green Party-Run Hove Town Hall
“I fail to see the “tee-hee” here.”
Doubly Ironic!
Thank you for sharing this article, now I learn more about solar panels.
Here in Aus with the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd fiasco that some call “govenmnet”, some 3 or 4 people died in the insulation and solar panel installation green urge boondoggle. Fireies (That’s what we call “firemen” here in Aus) were, shall we say, “hesitant” about entering a roof fire that had solar panels installed. As I understand from a bush fire volunteer, if they see an installation, they simply rip it up off the roof!
Energy from solar panels is DC and must be inverted to AC to be used in a household setting. The inversion process is likely where the fire began because a bad invertor could cause a fire.
Firefighters are fully aware of the dangers of a PV device on the roof. It is still not necessary by law, at least where I live, to install some sort of main switch or other automatic device that takes these panels off the power grid, namely their connection from the panel itself to the inverter. The firefighters are acutely in danger of being electrocuted by up to 1000V DC. Some of them say it is better to let it burn and protect the neighboring premises until the PV-device is completely de-energised if there is no firefighter switch. The fire insurances know that as well, so that premium rates for PV devices went through the roof. PV modules are expensive, dangerous and do not provide a reasonable contribution to a existing power grid. They are just a nice playground for greedy watermelons.
You should read Anthony’s article on why he installed a system – his marginal electricity rate at peak times is very high.
IIRC his article has some information on his selection of supplier and contractor.
Oh no! Does this mean rich people will have to remove the solar panels from their roofs that those of us in fuel poverty are paying the subsidy for?
Al Gore must be quaking in his 7th glass parlour room!
No, I don’t really blame anyone for fitting solar panels and claiming the subsidy ( I tried myself but the wife put a stop to it!).
But it is ridiculous that the poor are paying to subsidise the rich.
The comments here have made me realise that this is a subject that should be addressed at a higher , ie Govt level , at least in the UK where most of us live in attached houses, terraces , flats or “semi-detacheds”. So if my neighbour on the other side of the party wall installs solar panels and they have a fire, the Fire service may decide , on Health and Safety grounds, to let it burn itself out , thus ensuring that my house burns as well.
Not only that , but my insurance co may decide to increase my premiums if my neighbour decides to become a subsidy farmer.
How can I persuade the next govt to bring in legislation so that in shared premises like “semis” , both households must agree on the installation if one proposes it.
“ESF&RS said solar panels were no more dangerous than any other electrical product.”
Electrical products cause lots of fires.
In the UK we have had two days of very sunny weather.
Is it possible to overload solar panels?
I see that “ABB 4 Pole Photovoltaic Switch Disconnector, 1100 V dc, 160 A” switches are made just for this purpose, at £250 each plus fitting.
I expect the world will move to a standard where these type of switches are fitted into a weatherproof box, mounted under the eaves for firefighters to reach with the aid of a ladder and pole.
I’ve seen a big switch on the wall of a house in BC, reachable without a ladder, likely a requirement of the power company.
Any electrical piece and its connections has to be done properly. Eco-schemes are especially prone to being badly done as the focus is irrational, sellers pitch other than reliability, customers don’t pay attention. Caveat emptor.
Solar panels do require
And I’m laughing bout squirrels, as a former work colleague had problems with squirrels chewing wiring in his house in the UK. He became less of an environmentalist at that point – purchased a BB gun.
Panel was probably soiled, dirty or shaded, and, a back fed diode, which they all have to prevent an entire string’s power from being wasted, failed. Virtually all panels consist of of 3 sets of cells, with, each set of cells having forward and backward biased diodes. The reverse biased diodes operate, when, any particular cell in a panel is shaded. IF SHADING OCCURS IN JUST ONE CELL of an entire string of panels the output of the entire string of falls dramatically. MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) through inverters reduces this when using string inverters such as SMA. Newer technologies such as SolarEdge allow individual panel monitoring through your computer and do a better job of MPPT. Their technology consists of attaching a DC optimizer module underneath every panel. Enphase functions similarly and actually converts DC to AC on the roof with a module like SolarEdge. In all reality to prevent this, switching technology has to be added at the back of each panel.