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Safety of solar systems - advice for home owners

A recent inspection program [PDF] ordered by EnergySafety has uncovered some issues with home solar installations in WA.

Most solar installations are safe. To date, EnergySafety has not received any reports of electric shocks involving solar systems and there have been very few reports of fires which could have been initiated by solar installations.

A fire can occur however if the DC isolator is wired incorrectly and the system is incorrectly shutdown.

In the rare case where you may need to shut down your system, the system will not pose any hazard if you follow the shut down procedure correctly.

Your system should have a shut down procedure which looks like this:

 

The following labels should also be present on your switchboard:

 

 

     

If your system does not have a shut down procedure or the labels above, you will need to contact the company or business that sold the system to you. Your installer's details should be listed on the solar accreditation website.

Property owners concerned about the safety of their solar system should not try to shut down the system themselves. The safest action is to leave the system alone and contact the seller / installer. Remember, the system will not cause any problems if you do not operate any of the switches within the system. It can wait until your seller sends an electrician to have a look (if required).

If after contacting the seller,  your concerns have not been addressed, contact your network operator. In most cases, it would either be Western Power (13 13 51) or Horizon Power (13 23 51).