by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE rollout of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has emerged as a constant fire risk in many commercial, industrial and residential locations in South Africa.
Research globally indicates that some 29 fire incidents occur annually per gigawatt (GW) of installed PV systems. This is according to a peer-reviewed study on rooftop solar fires.
Hotspots on solar panels reach temperatures approaching 200°C, and many of the panels themselves have been installed in extremely questionable locations, according to GoThermal, a certified thermographic firm.
“Solar panels have been installed in eco-estates where there can be a huge amount of thatch,” said Phil Smerkovitz, Managing Director of GoThermal.
“We’ve seen them positioned close to hazardous materials, next to aircraft, above vehicles, at game farms opposite hectares of dry bush; the list goes on.”
Hotspots are areas of localised heat that can ignite everything from bird nests to dry grass blown onto the panels. They have been flagged by the insurance industry as being an existential threat to solar arrays. Smerkovitz said evidence is often seen of physical burn-through on the backsheet insulation layer of solar panels, and the results can be devastating.
“Solar panels are only safe when professional thermographic inspections are carried out at least once a quarter,” he noted.
Smerkovitz said drones and humans routinely inspecting both the roof-facing and the sun-facing sides of solar panels is the only way to identify panels starting to heat up in good time.
According to experts, solar power is not an “install-and-forget” investment. Silent underperformance and potentially catastrophic fires are the result of dirt accumulation and unnoticed faults.
Smerkovitz said recent conversations with insurance underwriters about the growing threat to life and property from hotspot-originating fires have led GoThermal to focus on the rollout of heat-detection technology to trigger alarms when critical temperature thresholds are reached.
GoThermal provides continuous monitoring along the entire solar array, allowing for the early detection of localised hotspots or electrical faults before they escalate into major fires.
– CAJ News