Solar Fire Threat a Beat Up
18 February 2010
John Grimes, CEO
Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES)
Website: www.auses.org.au
Email: ceo@auses.org.au
Industry responds to PV media reports
Recent claims regarding the threat of house fires from solar PV installations needs to be put in context, says John Grimes Chief Executive, Australian Solar Energy Society.
An issue has been raised by the PV solar installer’s accreditation agency CEC and Standards Australia that AC breakers have been installed on the DC side of solar systems. “This scheme has been enormously successful by any measure. What we are looking at are a handful of rogue installers who have failed to meet stringent installation standards, put in place by the government to safeguard against this very thing”, said Grimes “While this could potentially create a fire danger, doing this is completely against the standards” said Grimes. “This problem was detected over 6 months ago in a small number of inspections, and active steps were put in place to fix this potential problem as soon as it came to light”. “For the vast number of installation companies, this was never a problem in the first place. What’s more Australia has led the world in PV installation accreditation standards, and its inspection regime successfully identified the problem before any incident occurred”. “PV solar panels remain an excellent choice for people looking to reduce their energy use, and therefore their greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian Solar Energy Society commends the government for their continued support of solar PV installations”, said Mr Grimes.