Two solar panel manufacturers have suffered factory fires in recent weeks that could impact production in the coming months.
JinkoSolar unveiled that a silicon wafer and solar cell manufacturing facility in Shanxi Province, China, suffered a fire accident on the afternoon of April 26, 2024. The local fire brigade quickly extinguished the fire. There were no casualties and the area was not affected. Jinko said the incident is “expected to impact the company’s operations and financial results in 2024,” and that it is dividing its wafer and cell production among other production sites to minimize disruption to the production process. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
In the early hours of May 3, 2024, a lightning strike is believed to have caused a fire at one of First Solar’s thin-film solar panel manufacturing facilities in Ohio. Local news reported that the fire brigade had difficulty determining the location of the fire due to the size of the building, but that the sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading inside. The concern now is water damage to the wiring that supplies power to the production lines. The fire broke out on the roof of First Solar’s second factory, which has an annual capacity of almost 3 GW. The company recently had its most productive quarter evergood for 3.6 GW of modules in the first quarter of 2024.
