Is your rooftop solar system a fire risk? It seems the biggest risk of household fires from rooftop solar PV may be due to a standard imposed by fire authorities in Australia nearly two decades ago.
Nigel Morris, from Solar Analystics, joins RenewEconomy and One Step Off The Grid editor Giles Parkinson to discuss the fire risk issues in our regular fortnightly podcast on the solar industry, Solar Insiders.
The issue is not just DC Isolators, often cited as the major culprit, but also the use of high votage DC equipment. Morris describes how this came about and what could be done.
Also on the agenda are some more dodgy sales practices, with one installer being sprung by the regulator, and another under scrutiny over letters sent out to solar households about so-called battery storage “discounts.”
Thanks to all those who gave us great feedback on the first podcast, and please give us your feedback, leave a review on iTunes to help more people find it.
You can find the back catalogue of Solar Insiders and Energy Insiders podcasts here.
This post was published on August 29, 2017 1:07 pm
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Just thought I might point out that a DC Isolator is not a circuit breaker and does not protect the cables from short circuit. Also the DC cables are rated for the maximum current that the solar panels can generate therefore a short circuit will not cause the cables to melt.
This is fake news. Most of this podcast is verifiably false. Giles and Nigel, should be embarrassed by this odd podcast. For actual info on this topic I'd suggest hopping over to the ATA, who have actually done some empirical research on the matter. Here's a link: http://www.ata.org.au/news/rooftop-dc-isolators-and-solar-system-fires