Toxic materials released from photovoltaic modules during fires: Health risks

Abstract Concern exists about potential health hazards associated with toxic materials released during fires from cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide and gallium arsenide photovoltaic modules. In response to this concern, this report characterizes: scenarios specifying quantities of materials present in residential (5 kWp), commercial (100 kWp) and substation-level (500 kWp) photovoltaic installations; rates of release of these materials from such arrays during a fire; atmospheric transport of combustion by-products from point of release to point of intake by nearby human populations; sensitivity and response of exposed human populations to these chemicals; and incidence of such fires. Analyses presented in this report suggest that the risks from combustion by-products emitted during a fire should not be large, especially from residential and substation-level array fields. In commercial-scale applications, the risk may be larger because of the quantities of materials present and the increased probability of a fire occurring. For these applications, it would be prudent to develop simple mitigation strategies to protect public health, e.g. alerting all residents within about 1–2 km of a fire to remain in their homes and to close all windows.