The Photovoltaic Fire Intelligence Network (PV-FIN) was established to improve the safety of solar PV systems through collaboration, research and the sharing of knowledge
Its primary focus is to investigate and understand the causes of solar PV-related fires, enabling the development of recommendations and practical solutions to reduce future incidents.
Solar PV systems are inherently safe, as demonstrated by the millions of installations operating successfully worldwide. However, as adoption continues to grow rapidly, the number of fire incidents is also expected to increase, even where failure rates remain low.
PV-FIN was established not to create concern within the industry but to better understand current failures, identify their causes and develop practical measures to prevent future incidents.
By implementing evidence-based recommendations, the initiative aims to reduce financial losses, protect lives and minimise damage to property and the environment.
Central to the project is the collection and analysis of reliable qualitative and quantitative data on PV-related fires. To address current gaps in available information, PV-FIN is reaching out to stakeholders across the sector with a request for supporting data.
Industry insight
PV-FIN have identified two streams of data that will provide different but complementary information on solar PV incidents. The first will provide an indication of what solar, electrical and fire professionals are currently observing with regards to the safety of solar PV installations today. The second will provide more reliable information on the exact causes of historic fire incidents involving solar installations.
The first stream of data is being gathered using a series of questionnaires targeted at individuals, organisations and professionals who have knowledge of, or experience with, solar PV fire incidents, near misses or related work practices.
They can support this work confidentially reporting on experiences by completing the questionnaires, which are available online at www.pvfin.org. The questionnaire is designed to capture information specifically with regards to general work practices, near miss incidents and actual fire incidents in which solar PV systems were the cause of the fire.
These three questionnaires cover the following:
- Work Practices: General installation and maintenance practices across the solar PV industry.
- Near Miss: Events that could have resulted in a fire but were prevented before an incident occurred.
- Fire Incident: All solar PV-related fire incidents (including combustion of a single PV system component to fires growing and spreading to multiple buildings or entire solar farms).
The questionnaires have been prepared so that information can be provided anonymously, and the same person can complete multiple questionaries if they apply to different incidents.
The second stream of data collection is aimed at insurers, fire investigators and forensic fire scientists. These professionals often have access to detailed evidence from specific incidents, including informed assessments of which components may have failed and the level of confidence in those conclusions.
Recognising that such information is often confidential and commercially sensitive, PV-FIN is working closely with these stakeholders to ensure that only the minimum data required for analysis is shared. All identifying details relating to individual incidents are excluded. The focus of the research is solely on understanding which components failed and the degree of confidence in the findings, enabling meaningful analysis while maintaining confidentiality and protecting sensitive information.
It must be noted that any information provided, for both streams, will only be used exclusively to support this research work and not for any attribution of fault or blame.
Next steps: Developing best practice
Once the data gathering phase is complete BRE will interpret, analyse and present the data to PV-FIN which will be reviewed to identify causes, frequency and trends, with key findings alongside recommendations to improve solar PV system safety.
This will support the identification of potential solutions in terms of best practices, public/industry guidance, product improvements, new or revised standards/codes and more effective processes as well as identifying improved data gathering approaches and areas for further research in the future. This will be published in a freely available briefing paper.
Interest beyond the UK is growing in this project, with enquiries from Japan, Australia and the USA to replicate this approach there and identify relevant solutions that could be implemented locally. If these collaborations could be led and performed in a similar way then this information could potentially be shared between and beyond the groups. Please get in touch if interested.
If you have knowledge of, or experience with, solar PV fire incidents, near misses, or related work practices then please complete the relevant questionnaire at https://www.pvfin.org/
If you have reliable data on the causes of solar PV fires or if you have additional relevant information that could support this project, then please contact solarfire@bregroup.com.
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