The project aims to bring information and qualify the workforce to avoid incidents, such as large fires, in residential and commercial facilities.
In partnership with the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Huawei, a global multinational in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is developing a research and development project focused on the safety and quality of inverters for photovoltaic systems. The objective is to research and map all the risks that may exist in equipment that generate solar energy. The project will create structures that can provide market professionals with a training environment, so that they can understand and mitigate any incidents that can result in fires of up to large proportions.
The number of solar installations is increasing in Brazil. However, the number of incidents caused by electric arcs is also growing, which is a type of “sparking” with heat production that can occur in conditions of faults in electrical circuits. In April of this year, the National Fire Fighting Committee (Conaci) published a letter warning about the risks of fires in solar energy systems. According to Conaci, there are currently 600,000 buildings that use photovoltaic systems in Brazil, most of which were built without the minimum technical requirements for adequate fire prevention and fighting.
“Security is a fundamental topic for Huawei and we noticed that this topic is still little commented on in the energy sector. This partnership with UFSM is fundamental to our strategy of bringing more information and training so that we can boost the generation of clean energy in a safe way in the country”, explains Nelson Stanisci, Solutions Manager at Huawei Digital Power, a subsidiary of the company focused on development of intelligent electronic products for digital and zero-carbon energy generation.
“Analyzing the photovoltaic equipment sold in Brazil, with emphasis on inverters, we observe that a significant part of the equipment sold here still does not meet the safety requirements against risks of electric shock and fire prevention demanded by the most advanced countries. Our partnership with Huawei has the objective of deepening the study of these risks considering the local reality, as well as disseminating this knowledge that is so important to everyone”, explains Leandro Michels, professor of the Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Maria and coordinator of the partnership research project.
UFSM has a laboratory accredited by INMETRO, which is a reference in Brazil in carrying out conformity certification tests for photovoltaic inverters. The R&D project, in partnership with Huawei, is developing demonstration benches and training for photovoltaic system installers, software aimed at plant design, among other actions. The result of this work will be presented at events and used in the development of training actions for installers throughout Brazil.
