A fire broke out on the afternoon of May 21 along a PV noise barrier on Shanghai’s Hongmei South Road elevated expressway, sending thick black smoke into the air and damaging many installed solar panels.
The fire department in Shanghai's Xuhui District said that the flames spread quickly and debris fell onto the road below, disrupting traffic for more than two hours. No injuries were reported.
Fire crews arrived promptly and brought the blaze under control using aerial ladder trucks and ground operations. The authorities are still investigating the cause.
The fire broke out at the Hongmei South Road building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) project, backed by the Shanghai branch of China Huadian Corp. Construction started on the array in November 2023. Crews installed lightweight flexible modules by July 2024. The project was connected to the grid on April 30, 2025 – just weeks before the fire.
The project, with 1.5 MW of capacity and 2,732 lightweight modules spanning 26,000 square meters, was designed to generate more than 37.5 GWh of electricity over its lifetime. It was promoted as China’s first PV-powered elevated noise barrier and a milestone in urban green energy design.
The fire incident comes amid Shanghai’s broader push to integrate PV into transport systems. The municipal government aims to add at least 120 MW of solar capacity in the transport sector by 2025. Key demonstration sites include subways, airports, and ports.
Other Chinese provinces – including Sichuan, Yunnan, Shandong, and Jiangsu – are also expanding “PV-plus-transport” projects. Sichuan is deploying 47 MW of solar along expressways. Yunnan is adding solar to highway slopes and rest areas. Shandong is developing zero-carbon service zones. Jiangsu began expressway PV deployment in 2018.
Industry experts see the Shanghai fire as a cautionary example for the solar-plus-transport trend. PV systems in transport settings face tougher environmental stress – vehicle vibrations, exhaust corrosion, extreme weather, and human interference.
Specialists have called for stricter safety protocols in materials, construction, and maintenance. They recommend higher fire resistance ratings, regular cable replacement, and lifecycle safety management. Some support integrating solar arrays with storage, EV charging, and fire monitoring to form “solar-plus-storage-plus-charging-plus-safety” hubs.
A Huadian official said the Hongmei project used unspecified lightweight flexible thin-film modules with a load of 5 kg/m² to balance power generation and noise reduction. The company said it has activated emergency response protocols and is cooperating with the authorities.
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.
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.