Fire in solar panel and home battery warehouse in Adelaide under investigation

Firefighters are investigating the cause of a major blaze in an Adelaide industrial area over the weekend, which has damaged energy company 1Komma5º’s solar panel and battery warehouse.

Emergency services were called out to a fire on the corner of Regency and South roads at Croydon Park about 11.40am on Sunday, after reports of black smoke coming from the buildings.

The blaze gutted several commercial properties, and caused large amounts of black smoke to blanket the surrounding suburbs, the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) said on its Facebook page on Sunday.

A 1Komma5º spokesperson said the blaze damaged their storage unit in Croydon, but an MFS spokesperson on Monday told Renew Economy the exact point of origin of the fire is still under investigation.

The MFS also says none of the 1Komma5º batteries stored at the site caught fire or entered thermal runaway, a process where lithium batteries heat up uncontrollably, and it didn’t attribute explosions heard during the fire to those devices.

“Whilst elements of the batteries have melted, crews prevented serious damage and thermal runaway from a significant quantity of batteries that were on site,” a statement from the MFS says.

“It is not uncommon to hear explosion like noises during structural fires. This is often as a result of glass breaking under extreme heat, or parts of ceilings, beams or roofs collapsing.”

The ABC reported MFS commander Declan Dwyer’s rough estimate of the value of damage to be around $3.5 million, but employees of 1Komma5º are yet to enter the building and don’t yet know what that figure will be.

Dwyer said 22 fire vehicles attended the scene and some 90 people firefighters, almost as many that attended a fire in the north of Adelaide over the weekend caused by a petrol spill.

The 1Komma5º spokesperson says the company is cooperating fully with the investigation.

“At this stage, the cause has not been determined, and we are working closely with the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, SA Police and other relevant authorities to support their investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“In the meantime, we are liaising with our customers about their planned installations in the coming weeks. Many of these will continue as scheduled.” 

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