Australian solar farm hit by grass fire burning under modules

A large solar farm near Gulgong in the central west region of New South Wales has been shut down after being damaged by a grass fire on Monday.

The 110MW Beryl solar farm – managed by RES Australia on behalf of Banpu Energy – was affected by the fire on Monday afternoon. The cause of the fire was not clear but firefighters said the fact that it was burning under solar panels made the task of tackling it difficult.

“Firefighters from the #NSWRFS and FRNSW are currently on scene of a grass fire burning within a solar farm, 5km west of Gulgong,” the NSW Rural Fire Service said in a Facebook post.

“The fire is burning under the solar panels, making access difficult for firefighters. A large column of smoke will be visible from Gulgong, however the smoke is blowing away from the town.”

A Beryl solar farm spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday that the fire broke out at 12.34pm local time on Monday.

“Fire crews were called at 12.36pm and attended site within 20 minutes of this notification.

“The BSF Fire and Emergency Management Plan was immediately enacted, which allowed emergency responders and site teams to bring the fire under control by 4.30pm. Crews were able to contain the fire with no threat to people or neighbouring properties.”

The spokesperson said the solar farm managers continuously monitor and maintain vegetation levels in line with NSW Rural Fire Service guidelines to mitigate fire risk.

“This is the first incident of its kind at BSF and a thorough investigation is underway to investigate the root cause, while all the equipment remains isolated for safety reasons,” the statement said.

Ground conditions in the area have been impacted by the extended period of wet weather which together with the recent higher than average temperatures, resulted in the extension of the bushfire season to 30th April 2023.

“All plant personnel are safe and accounted for, the site has been secured, and there were no injuries. BSF thanks the first responders who assisted the site teams with this effort.”