Fire safety of building integrated photovoltaic systems: Critical review for codes and standards

Ko, Yoon; Aram, Monireh; Zhang, Xin; Qi, Dahai

doi:10.1177/1420326x211073130

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Currently, there are no BIPV specific rules, regulations, and policies in most countries [8]. BIPV must comply with building codes as well as the electrical codes with assured structural strength and fire safety [18,19]. Since these rules are not clearly defined for BIPV projects, confusions may happen which could limit the trust and confidence of the building and PV stakeholders.…”

Section: Lack Of Stakeholder Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities for using blockchain in distributed solar energy projects

Gunarathna

Yang

Jayasuriya

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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The involvement of many stakeholders from diverse sectors throughout the distributed solar energy (DSE) project lifecycle and their discrete commitments to the project have lessened the stakeholder understanding in each other’s contribution. Communication between the stakeholders is not continuous and systematic; thus, the project information is not well-communicated for accurate decision making. Therefore, DSE projects have not yet won the complete stakeholder trust and its adoption in the building industry is not yet fully accepted. This study aims at exploring the opportunities for using blockchain technology to reduce/eliminate the trust issues and communication gaps along the DSE lifecycle. The study conducts 50 semi-structured interviews with building and energy stakeholders to identify the issues/ limitations which (1) reduce the stakeholder trust on DSE technologies and applications and (2) generate communication gaps along the DSE project lifecycle. Findings reveal that most of the issues/ limitations occurred due to the unavailability of a common platform for communication and information sharing, unavailability of information, improper record keeping and limited information security. The unique features of blockchain technology such as (1) distributed ledger technology (DLT), (2) smart contracts, (3) token-based access control, and (4) automated consensus and forking can effectively eliminate the identified issues/ limitations by providing (1) information accuracy and reliability, (2) information security, (3) open access to project information, (4) systematic record keeping and (5) proper governance of the system. The outcome of this study provides a systematic approach to increase the quality of communication in DSE projects design and management.

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Section: Lack Of Stakeholder Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities for using blockchain in distributed solar energy projects

Gunarathna

Yang

Jayasuriya

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…In another subsequent study, Kristensen et al [21] proposed a critical gap height for different modules sizes that could reduce the fire risk associated with PVMs on flat roofs. Consequently, some authors developed critical analyzes of various studies in state of the art on the topics of photovoltaic systems in buildings, such as fire safety and mitigation strategies, best PV installation practices, current regulations and standards, and even safety practices for firefighters during photovoltaic fires [22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of a Novel Proposal Using Temperature and Efficiency to Prevent Fires in Photovoltaic Energy Systems

Juarez-Lopez,

Franco,

Hernandez-Escobedo

et al. 2023

Fire

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Fires in photovoltaic (PV) electrical systems are a real and serious problem because this phenomenon can have severe consequences for the safety of people and the environment. In some cases, fires result from a lack of maintenance or improper installation of PV modules. It is essential to consider prevention and continuous monitoring of the electrical parameters to minimize these risks, as these factors increase the temperature of the photovoltaic modules. The use of thermal analysis techniques can prevent hotspots and fires in photovoltaic systems; these techniques allow detecting and correcting problems in the installation, such as shadows, dirt, and poor-quality connections in PVs. This paper presents a case study of the implementation of thermal analysis in an installation of photovoltaic modules connected to a solar pumping system to identify the formation of hotspots through thermal images using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Here, a novel methodology is proposed based on the comparison of temperature increases concerning the values of short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and real efficiency of each PV module. In addition, an electrical safety methodology is proposed to design a photovoltaic system that prevents fires caused by hotspots, contemplating critical parameters such as photovoltaic power, number of photovoltaic modules, DC:AC conversion ratio, electrical conductor selection, control devices, and electrical protection; the performance power expected was obtained using standard power test conditions, including irradiance factor, photovoltaic module (PVM) temperature factor, and power reduction factor.

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