Fire Safety In Solar Farms
Helping you avoid downtime and mitigate the risk of toxic solar PV and battery storage fires by finding pragmatic engineering solutions and supporting you to effectively manage fire risks.
Finding Engineering Solutions Fit For The Environment
With the UK’s commitment to green energy transition and goal to become net zero by 2050, renewable initiatives, like solar farming, have seen a vast expansion. Solar farms (also known as Solar developments, Solar power plants or Solar parks) are large-scale installations of solar panels on vast amounts of land that harvest solar energy, convert it to electricity, storage of energy and feed to the grid.
FOCUSING ON FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT TO AVOID IMPACTS OF DOWNTIME
The disruption caused by fire-related downtime in energy harvesting and supply can extend beyond revenue loss to environmental impact. That’s why when working on solar farm fire safety, we always place focus on business continuity, fire prevention and isolation of fire hazards to minimise impacts.
ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS FIT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
There is limited regulatory guidance available on fire risk management in solar farms but the responsible person maintains a duty to manage fire risks and keep them as low as reasonably practicable. In these circumstances, it is important to find engineering solutions fit for the environment that mitigate fire risks effectively and ensure compliance.
BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS COMPLIANCE TO UK FIRE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
Battery Storage systems (BES) present significant fire safety hazards due to the nature of battery fires, their fast spread and toxicity. The BES technology is often imported from outside of the UK, where local regulations and risk appetite differ from that of the UK. Therefore, these systems aren’t designed to comply with UK legislation. We can help you assess the quality and compliance of the BES Systems used on your solar farm to the UK legislation and ensure that they are meeting the fire safety objectives of your project.
Anticipating And Managing Fire Risks
When managing fire safety in solar farms the following fire risks need to be accommodated:
⚠️ Electrical hazards: Short circuits, overheating of wiring, arc faults, isolation challenges and electrical surges.
⚠️ Fire Fighting Provisions: Challenging location and environment, possible lack of access to the public water supply.
⚠️ Battery Technology and Storage (LIB): LIBs present a serious fire hazard due to thermal runway and the release of toxic gases and vapours, often undetectable and unextinguishable by common suppression systems.
Lack of surveillance and supervision in unstaffed and remote sites also increases the fire risk. Solar PV fires are highly toxic, dangerous to humans, and harmful to the environment. That’s why it is very important to have an engineering solution focused on fire prevention and, if a fire occurs, ensure a quick response to avoid downtime, environmental impact and potential penalties.
Taking A Holistic Approach To Managing Fire Safety
When approaching fire safety management, we always start by understanding your objectives. Then, we work together to develop a plan for achieving them, considering the available resources, accessibility and other requirements specific to your solar power plant.
OUR APPROACH:
Review policies and procedures for Fire Safety and Health and Safety
Understand your facilities and fire safety management arrangements
Determine and review areas of risk (where our assistance is required)
Recommend optimal engineering solution to achieve the desired outcome
Collaborate with your contractors
Clear technical specification
Assistance with competence assurance (if required)
Support implementation
Technical query support
Alignment of contractors and other stakeholders to deliver to a required specification
Assure quality and compliance to ensure the work has been delivered to the required standard and specification.
Provide feedback and recommendations for continuous improvement
Working With Us
Passionate about making the world a safer place
Service tailored to your needs
Clear, actionable advice
Collaboration, care and support at every step
“We value the power of collaboration, build our relationships on trust and absolute respect, and take pride in the quality of the work we deliver.”
New Terra Compliance Director of Fire Safety, Dan Jackson
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Our purpose is to make the world a safer place by understanding regulations and assisting clients to implement effective fire safety measures that protect lives, safeguard assets, and provide peace of mind.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help.