PV SYSTEMS - A FIRE HAZARD? - MYTHS AND FACTS FROM GERMAN EXPERIENCE

摘要

After a few fire incidents in 2009 and 2010, in which buildings with PV systems were involved, a project had been initiated to address all issues of "PV on fire". Creation of the project is basically caused by the reporting of the media on these incidents. Investigations covered by the project range from analysis of material used in PV modules, over production processes, fault analysis and installation guidelines to system documentation for firefighters and fire fighting procedures as well as novel mitigation approaches.This paper addresses an investigation of some reported fire incidents with PV systems as well as reports on heat damages and fires of PV systems. It was found that media reports on incidents sometimes drastically misrepresented what actually had happened. Heat damages were mainly reported from within modules and from module connections. Surprisingly often DC-switches and AC installations of PV systems were identified as cause of fires.