Transformer centre fire at Ekian solar park in Spain

What happened

Firefighters from Álava extinguished a fire that broke out on the morning of 1 August 2022 at the transformer centre of the 24 MW Ekian solar park in the municipality of Ribera Baja, Spain. The park sits on a 55-hectare industrial estate called La Lágrima within the Arasur Industrial Park. The firefighters reported the fire on social media. According to the report, the fire did not cause significant damage to the facility.

The cause of the blaze was unknown at the time of reporting and an investigation was under way. The park was inaugurated in January 2020 by the local utility Ente Vasco de la Energia (EVE) and comprises about 67,000 355 W solar panels. Work began in April 2019 and took eight months to complete.

Contributing factors

Not reported. The cause was unknown at the time of the report and an investigation was under way.

Lessons learned

1. Transformer centres at solar parks should have thermal monitoring and alarms that alert operators before a fire develops.
2. Operators should give fire services clear site plans, isolation points and transformer details so that responses are faster and safer.
3. Operators should share findings from investigations of transformer fires so that other sites can check for the same causes.

More lessons on detection and monitoring, fire suppression and firefighting, investigation and fleet-wide checks, from every incident on the register.

Source

greenbuildingafrica.co.za