Fire breaks out in central inverters at Ullum solar park in Argentina

Municipal firefighters in Ullum, San Juan province, Argentina, were called on a Sunday morning by police headquarters to attend a fire at the Ullum photovoltaic park, owned by Argentinian energy company Genneia SA. On arrival, firefighters found that a number of central inverters had caught fire, with flames consuming the interior of the cabinets housing the inverters and the thick interconnecting wiring. It took firefighters about ninety minutes to bring the blaze under control, with the incident declared controlled at 1:50 p.m. The Ullum development comprises three solar plants, Ullum I (25 MW), Ullum II (25 MW) and Ullum III (32 MW), developed by state-owned power supplier Energía Provincial Sociedad del Estado and acquired by Genneia in April 2018. At the time of reporting it remained unclear which of the three plants was affected. Injuries, damage extent and downtime were not reported.

The source does not state a specific technical cause of the inverter fire.

1. Central inverter cabinets containing dense wiring and power electronics are a recurring fire risk point at solar parks and merit thermal inspection and clear isolation arrangements.
2. Rapid local fire service response, supported by clear dispatch routes, can help contain an inverter fire before it spreads further within a plant.
3. Clear labelling and identification of which unit or plant is affected within multi-plant sites helps responders and supports accurate post-incident reporting.

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