Two solar panel manufacturers have experienced fires at factories in recent weeks that may affect production for months to come.
JinkoSolar revealed that a silicon wafer and solar cell manufacturing facility in Shanxi Province, China, had a fire accident on the afternoon of April 26, 2024. The local fire department quickly extinguished the fire. There were no casualties and the surrounding area was not impacted. Jinko said the incident is “expected to impact the company’s operations and financial results in 2024,” and it is allocating its wafer and cell production among other manufacturing sites to minimize disruption to its production process. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
In the early hours of May 3, 2024, a lightning strike is assumed to have started a fire at one of First Solar’s thin-film solar panel manufacturing facilities in Ohio. Local news reported that fire crews had difficulty determining the location of the fire due to the size of the building, but the sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading inside. The concern now is for water damage to the wiring that supplies power to the manufacturing lines. The fire broke out on the roof of First Solar’s second factory, which has an annual capacity of nearly 3 GW. The company recently had its most productive quarter ever, making 3.6 GW of modules in Q1 2024.