SolarWorld has announced today that it is to recall systems using 1.5 million of the producer's modules installed in North America after June 1, 2010 following the revelation that any of its panels that were installed with bare-copper grounding lugs could pose a risk of electric shock, electrocution or fire hazard.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will oversee the recall which actually requires customers to contact SolarWorld for replacement lugs should they find they have been improperly fitted which has so far caused no known injuries.
"Bare-copper grounding lugs can corrode, which could result in a faulty ground circuit, posing an electric shock, electrocution or fire hazard," read a CPSC statement.
The problem stems from information in installation manuals that were not sufficiently explicit regarding the type of lugs used to ground array. The manual accompanied SolarWorld modules shipped throughout North America over the past four years. The manual omitted an important procedure detailing that copper lugs must be coated in tin before installation.
The manual in question was only packaged with modules in North America and will not affect those installed in Europe, SolarWorld has confirmed.
Consumers in the U.S. and Canada with SolarWorld modules installed between June 2010 and June 2014 are instructed to contact SolarWorld, who will issue replacement lugs. Any consumer that does not know how to identify the lugs should nevertheless contact SolarWorld, who have also confirmed that an authorized company representative will be sent free of charge to inspect and if necessary change the lugs in question.
SolarWorld Americas can be contacted free of charge on 001 877 360 1787.
Popular content
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Share
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.