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PV Solar Safety


Prevent Fires and Safety Risks and Optimize Rooftop PV Performance

Energy produced by solar PV has become one of the most cost-effective ways to produce energy. However, the risks present on commercial-scale solar rooftops are alarmingly real.

Based on a sample of hundreds of commercial scale rooftop inspections performed by Clean Energy Associates globally, including some of the largest commercial-scale rooftop installations worldwide, up to 97% of inspected rooftops had significant safety and fire risks.

Even somewhat ‘rudimentary’ issues pose potentially immediate fire risks, but many can operate for years without incident before causing a fire. These safety issues also present risks to your performance output well before the incident.

The good news is the most common and most serious issues usually involve replacing components - connectors and wires - not entire solar panels.

Finding and resolving safety risks on your rooftop solar installations is straight-forward and performing the due-diligence up-front can both reduce significant risks as well as save considerable costs, both from reputational damage, as well as physical damage and legal fees.

 

Comprehensive Third-Party Due Diligence Inspections of PV Rooftop Solar Sites


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The most common causes of safety risks present on solar installations today include:

  • Inconsistent and widely varying installation practices

  • Inaccurate or incomplete connector information

  • Conflicting motives between O&M providers and system-owners

Resolving these safety and performance risks requires experienced, third-party experts without the conflicting priorities of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) providers who may be disincentivized to identify issues they would be responsible for resolving.

CEA’s PV rooftop safety and due diligence inspections deliver third-party critical oversight into the safety and performance risks present in your commercial rooftop installation and provide experienced guidance and testing to proactively remove risks and improve your system performance.

 

Proactively Identify PV Rooftop Safety Risks and Ensure Installation and Operational Best Practices


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Waiting until a thermal event occurs can be costly. Aside from remediation and reputational costs, thermal events often lead to costly litigation with the installers or O&M providers.

Proactively inspecting your rooftop for fire and other safety risks before an incident occurs is the best way to mitigate and prevent these potentially disastrous incidents.

CEA’s PV Rooftop Safety and Due Diligence Inspections include:

  • Full Audit Inspections of existing sites to ensure ongoing site safety

  • Issue Punch List and Inspection reports detailing the description, location, and assessed severity risk level of all issues found

  • IV Curve Trace capabilities for performance monitoring

  • Electroluminescence (EL) Testing for module microcrack detection

  • Visual Site Safety Inspection and Full System Testing

  • Installer and O&M team SOP (process and procedure) review

  • Third Party Solar Experts for commercial owners and building owners (on all levels, not just boots on the ground)

 

Emergency Support and Retroactive Analysis and Reporting Post-Thermal Events


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No installation wants to experience a thermal event, but when one does occur, it is crucial to have experienced hands on-site to assess and handle the situation. CEA engineers are often able to provide same-day support for sites who have experienced thermal events.

After a thermal event, our experienced engineers provide the necessary guidance to safely power off your system and deliver independent analysis and reports often required by insurance company’s following thermal events.

CEA’s Thermal Incident and Emergency Response Includes:

  • Root Cause Investigation Support

  • Third-Party Expert Witness

  • Evidence Chain of Custody Witness and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Third Party Verification

  • Our full PV Rooftop Safety and Due Diligence services

 

End-to-End Comprehensive Engineering and Design Services That Cover Your Project from Start to Finish


Project Concept and Development Support

Engineering and Construction Support

Energy Storage Engineering Services

Operation and Maintenance Support

Warranty Claims, Emergency Services, and Conflict Support

Project Sale and Acquisition Support Services

 

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