PV electrical plants fire risk assessment and mitigation according to the Italian national fire services guidelines

Photovoltaic (PV) systems design and construction are generally focused on efficiency and reliability, in order to increase the amount of solar energy that can be converted into electrical energy. Therefore, in a PV electrical generation plant, fire risk is not taken into account by technical designers and, furthermore, is not considered by constructors of PV plant installation. This paper shows a procedure to assess and mitigate the fire risk as a result of a PV plant installation located over buildings, according to the Italian National Fire Services Guidelines. Firstly, an introduction to the main faulty modes of PV arrays and modules is reported in order to highlight how the pre-existing level of fire risk is increased for a building or construction work where a PV electrical generation plant is installed. Hence, the paper explains how the guidelines point out fire risk assessment steps oriented to PV plant installation over buildings. In addition, the guidelines contain some useful fire risk mitigation technical solutions. The guidelines have been developed with safety as their main objective. The PV sector has been presented with certain limitations in roof or facade installations as a result of PV fire ignition characteristics and firefighting suppression techniques. The aim of the guidelines is to provide the solar PV industry with information and technical arrangements to aid the design, construction and installation of solar PV systems meeting the objectives of both solar PV industry and fire safety requirements. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.