Fire safety of building integrated photovoltaic systems: Critical review for codes and standards

Abstract

A critical review of current regulations and standards is presented pertaining to the fire safety of the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into buildings. Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems need to meet both fire safety requirements as PV systems as well as the building fire codes requirements as building structural components (e.g. facades, roofing and glazing). However, the current building codes do not provide provisions that cover various applications of BIPV. Furthermore, the new building materials of glazing, tiles and claddings with the added function of solar energy collection are beyond the scopes of most of the current codes and standards. The present study also identified gaps in addressing the fire risk of BIPV systems with respect to the application to buildings considering potential fire hazards specific to the application.