Determination of arcing risks in PV modules with derivation of risk minimization measures

The number of German PV installations reach in early 2013 1.4 million systems. On the basis of recent research which was carried out within a 3 year R&D-project of TÜV Rheinland with Fraunhofer ISE and several industry partners, around 75 cases were found where a PV system caused a fire through arc faults or hot spots. Out of these known incidents, 65 cases caused major damage whereas 10 faults lead to total loss of the system and building [1]. These numbers display that fire incidents caused by e.g. arc faults are a minority, but every case reveals that latent risks exist when defective installation or products are applied. This work will focus on individual test series and according evaluation at different contacts, contact materials with the surrounding materials in a PV module. The purpose is to enable a mutual understanding between the possibility of an arc occurrence, the fire propagation through materials and the extinction. Consequently, a set of proposals for the progress of standardization work is carried out, including guidelines for building integrated systems or different testing applications.