A fire that broke out at a solar farm in Mannum, east of Adelaide, has injured a contract worker and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to the project in its commissioning phase.
The South Australia Country Fire Service says 10 firefighters responded to a triple zero call on Tuesday morning after an inverter in a shipping container burst into flames at the Mannum 2 solar farm, owned by Epic Energy in South Australia’s Riverland region.
“CFS crews managed to keep the fire contained to the shipping container and stop it spreading to nearby solar panels,” the report said.
“A contractor on site has been taken to hospital for treatment and SAPOL investigators have attended the site to conduct a workplace safety report. The damage bill is estimated at $250,000.”
In a statement emailed to RenewEconomy on Wednesday, Epic Energy confirmed that an inverter station at Mannum 2 had caught fire, resulting in a subcontractor being taken to hospital for treatment for burns.
“We are offering our support to our principal contractor and wish the injured personnel a full and speedy recovery,” Epic Energy CEO Clive D’Cruz said in the statement.
“Epic Energy’s principal contractor is working with SafeWork SA to investigate the incident, and repairs will be undertaken as quickly and safely as possible.
“The safety of our staff and contractors is Epic Energy’s highest priority.”
The 39MW(DC) Mannum 2 solar farm was acquired by Epic Energy in August 2022 from Canadian Solar and is currently in the commissioning phase – not yet sending power to the grid – following the completion of construction last year.
Construction and the first two years of operations and maintenance are being managed by a sub-contractor.
Mannum 2 sits alongside the original 6.8MW Mannum solar farm, which was developed and built by Canadian Solar in 2019 and bought by Epic Energy in November 2020.
Just this week, Epic Energy unveiled plans to develop a 220MWh battery energy storage system at the Mannum site, adjacent to the solar farms.
The company hopes to begin construction of the battery in the second quarter of 2024, with completion slated for the second half of 2025.
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