A Safe System, is an Efficient System.
Safety is priority when it comes down to your home or office – after safety, you can think about efficiency. The last thing you want to do is put your home or office residents in DANGER!!!
Renewable energy systems are not dangerous, but they are not to be taken lightly when it comes to safety measures, renewable energy technology in general is not dangerous when used in proper environment. If it were dangerous, scientists would not have considered renewable energy technologies to power the international space station, which is mission critical to governments and humanity. On broad installation platforms, millions of renewable energy systems already installed across the world, and the industry future progress looks exponentially positive. As any other electrical system, when well maintained and following international safety standards does not consist as a risk, rather not following those standards put the user directly in uncontrolled risk factors.
Potential Danger of Renewable Energy System:
- Danger of electric shock
- Danger of fire
- Danger of battery
- Danger of earthing (grounding)
Renewable energy systems distributes its power in two paths, 1. Direct to appliances at home, office or factory 2. To store excess energy in backup batteries to be used at later stage when the source of renewable energy are not available. These batteries possess the ability to store high voltage of electrical power and remain charged even after being removed from the energy source system. The mishandling of these charged batteries can cause permanent electrical damage, cause fire and even be responsible for personal electrical shock when handled incorrectly.
One of the most common potential risks when it comes to renewable energy systems is the danger of causing fire. It can be caused due to many reasons such as loose or poorly connected wiring, a weak ground connection, or even the usage of parts that do not match the specific unit. Additionally, spontaneous combustion, either from the parts within the collector or even in the surrounding environment resulting from higher levels of heat production, may also generate fire. Interestingly, the chances of causing fire due to renewable energy systems installation are comparatively less, although the risk may increase if careless wiring, dirty/broken modules or improper equipment used.
Batteries store an excessive amount of energy, making them prone to danger when and if dissipated in a short period. To provide an estimate, the energy contained in a battery specifically for an off-grid system may be around 5-10 KW/hours. Thus, when this energy is released over a shorter period of time, a large amount of heat may be generated, ultimately causing a short circuit and/or fire.
Grounding is necessary for any home, office or factory whether renewable energy system exist or not. Having that said, the renewable energy system including inverter, Lithium batteries, wind turbine, hydraulics turbine and Solar panels must be grounded. This is a basic safety rule if disregarded may cause electrical malfunction, ultimately leading to serious damage for electrical appliances.