Rooftop solar fire after unauthorised inverter replacement

Sept 2026Published 23 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

MinorElectrical

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From the recordRoot cause Failed part

Where: Zhongding Road 16, Xihongmen Town, Daxing District, Beijing
What: Fire broke out on rooftop photovoltaic array
Injuries: None reported
Response: Reported at 12:01 and extinguished by 12:30
Cause: Inverter fault after unauthorised replacement without qualifications

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What happened

On 7 September 2026 a fire broke out on the rooftop photovoltaic array at Zhongding Road 16, Xihongmen Town, Daxing District, Beijing. The fire was reported at 12:01 and extinguished by 12:30. The affected area measured 100 square metres. No one was injured or trapped. Investigation found that maintenance staff had replaced the inverter without the required special-operation qualifications and in breach of the equipment manual. The unauthorised work caused an inverter fault that started the fire.

Contributing factors

Maintenance personnel performed inverter replacement and testing without special-operation qualifications and contrary to the equipment user manual.

Lessons learned

Inverter replacement on rooftop arrays must use only qualified staff, or an electrical fault can start a fire.
All inverter work must follow the equipment manual, or faults that cause fires will occur.
Operators must check qualifications before electrical maintenance, to stop unqualified work on live equipment.

More lessons on maintenance, inspection and ageing assets, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

Inverter model and age
Downtime after the fire
Cost of damage and repairs
Site operator identity

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Source

m.solarzoom.com

Published 2026-09-23. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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The record behind this entry

The record behind EIR-1190 holds the root cause, what failed and the fire service response as fields you can filter, count and export, with its source and their verification status. The cause is not hidden: the contributing factors above give it as the sources report it. The record adds it as a field. Companies are named in the roles the sources give them. Being named is not a finding of fault.

Failed part: •••••••
Fire service response: ••••••••••
Sources: ••••••••

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Solar PV incidents in China: 5 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

Solar farm fires: the counts, the latest entries and a free alert for the next one. Also: solar inverter fires and rooftop solar fires.

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