Wildfire damages two tables of an 11 MW solar plant operated by Luxel in France
July 2026Published 31 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Luxel
What happened
A wildfire that started on 4 July 2026 at Trévillach, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France, and later spread towards the Ille-sur-Têt area, reached an 11 MWc solar photovoltaic plant operated by Luxel. The wider fire burned around 5,000 hectares, destroyed several homes and led to the evacuation of about 10,000 residents. According to the operator and a video released by the Ministry of the Interior, as reported by pv magazine France, only two module tables, roughly one hundred of the 43,500 panels on site, were damaged, and some cables were also damaged.
The transformers and inverters were reported intact. The operator said the plant was decoupled and de-energised by the Enedis network control agency once the alert was raised. Restoration began quickly, and by 10 July half of the inverters had been returned to service. The site still required cleaning, fence replacement and an assessment of the structures for possible heat effects.
Contributing factors
The operator attributed the limited damage to regular clearance of vegetation on the site and within a fifty-metre strip around the fences, which acted as a firebreak and stopped the flames entering the enclosure. The operator said such clearance is especially important in drought conditions. The wildfire was the external cause, and the source does not describe any fault in the plant.
Lessons learned
- Maintain a cleared vegetation strip around the perimeter of solar sites, sized to local legal and fire-service requirements, since it can keep flames out of the enclosure.
- Agree a rapid de-energisation procedure with the grid operator so that a plant can be isolated as soon as a fire alert is raised.
- After a nearby fire, inspect structures, cables and equipment for heat damage before returning the plant to service, and restore it in stages.
More lessons on maintenance, inspection and ageing assets, worker safety and safe systems of work, electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-31. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
