Image: Hans Iscaacson, Unsplash
Experts from the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV), the Royal Dutch Standardization Institute (NEN), and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) has mapped fire incidents in buildings with PV systems throughout the country. They found a significant increase in such incidents between 2022 and 2023.
That’s what they said in their report that between 2022 and 2023, approximately 10,000 buildings in the Netherlands will be affected by fires, of which 152 cases (2%) have PV systems on roofs. Of these, 70 were investigated by fire teams, which showed that 31 fires originated in the PV system, while 29 were caused by external factors. In 11 cases the cause remained unknown.
The researchers found that 28 of the 31 PV system-related fires occurred in conventional roof systems, while three involved building-integrated PV systems (BIPV). They also found that 27 of these fires could be related to defects in system installations or components.
“Until 2023, building fires involving solar energy systems were not structurally registered,” the three institutes said in a statement. “This research is a first attempt to gain more insight into building fires involving PV systems and to develop a test method for the impact of these systems on roofs.”
They said they also expect the number of PV fires to increase in the future, as do many Solar panels are now reaching the end of their lifespan and may be less safe.
“The enormous demand for PV systems has led to an increase in installation companies that in some cases do not install fully according to the standards,” they add.
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