UK Energy

The number of fires involving solar panels has soared after a boom in their use driven by energy bill rises, The Independent can reveal.

Data obtained under freedom of information rules show that there were six times the number of fires involving solar panels last year compared with 10 years ago.

The rate has increased sharply with 66 fires already recorded up until July this year compared with 63 for the whole of 2019, prompting concern from safety experts who are worried about a lack of regulation on who can install them.

However, new data from 45 of the UK’s 52 fire authorities, suggests that the first wave of solar panels installed under the government’s Feed in Tariff (FiT) subsidies introduced in 2010, are increasingly at risk of catching fire.

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Safety experts say there was a “gold rush” to install solar panels when the FiT was introduced and that many of these installations may have not since been tested.

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Anyone can install a solar panel in the UK but the work has to be cleared by the local council. The government recommends homeowners use a registered electrician but critics say installers are often unaware of the regulations and that panels are forgotten about and left to deteriorate over time.

In the past, in order to qualify for the FiT scheme, both the installers and the PV components had to be accredited as safe by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). However, it has never been a legal requirement and the scrapping of the subsidy means there is less incentive to use an accredited installer.