Webinar: Safety Lore No. 23: Key Lessons on Incidents from Solar Panels - Photovoltaic (PV)

Overview

Solar electricity panels, also known as photovoltaics (PV), capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity that you can use in many applications including process plants and home use. Solar panels allow individuals or organisations to generate their own renewable energy.

A solar PV panel consist of many cells made from layers of semi-conducting material, most commonly silicon. When light shines on this material, a flow of electricity is created. The cells don’t need direct sunlight to work and can even work on cloudy says. However, the stronger the sunshine, the more electricity generated.

Solar PV systems are made up of several panels, with each panel generating around 355W of energy in strong sunlight. Typical systems contain around 10 panels and generate direct current (DC) electricity.

Depending on the electricity’s application an invertor may be installed to convert DC electricity to alternating current (AC), appliances throughout your home are predominantly operating on AC. We have two case study examples that we used. So let’s have a chat about them.

Speaker

Craig Wright, Process Safety Specialist, IChemE Safety Centre

Craig joined the IChemE Safety Centre as a Process Safety Specialist following almost 20 years in the offshore oil and gas industry. He has a background in instrumentation and control, facility operations and senior management.

While offshore he always looked for ways to improve the safety of the facility. This led him to study a Master in Safety and Risk Management, coupled with years of practical process safety experience gives him a unique outlook.

He pro-actively looks for solutions for short and long-term standing issues while assessing the viability of them, ensuring that cost vs outcome is always balanced. He is passionate about process safety and interested in applying that thinking to the energy transition underway.

The material presented at this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter's own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Webinar recording