A state-of-the-art review of fire safety of photovoltaic systems in buildings

Considering that the buildings sector consumes a significant amount of energy and consequently emits greenhouse gases, reducing energy consumption and demand in buildings by employing advanced clean and energy efficient technologies is a vital worldwide commitment. This is why green building and energy efficient technologies, especially photovoltaic (PV) systems, have been widely applied in new and existing constructions. They can, however, cause a new intractable challenge, i.e., fire safety. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of the increasing number of scientific studies on photovoltaic system fire safety. Real fire incidents and faults in PV systems are briefly discussed, more particularly, original fire scenarios and victim fire scenarios. Moreover, studies on fire characteristics of photovoltaic systems and the suggested mitigation strategies are summarized. Hence, the focus of this paper is on fire safety of the system which is not only limited to surveying the existing literature but also detecting the research gaps. The analysis reveals that a PV fire incident is a complex and multi-faceted topic that cannot be simplified to a single variable causing a single outcome. This calls for stronger integration of all aspects while studying the cause of the fire and the resulting combustion products. Overall, this paper is envisioned to assist the researchers in the field of PV systems by mapping the fire characteristics of photovoltaic and helps to develop fire prevention strategies for building designers and decision-making authorities. •Present a state-of-the-art review of scientific studies on photovoltaic (PV) system fire safety.•Real fire incidents, PV faults, fire characteristics and suggested mitigation strategies are summarized.•A PV fire incident is a complex and multi-faceted topic that cannot be simplified to a single variable.•Mapping fire characteristics helps develop prevention strategies for designers and decision-making authorities.