Two security guards at a solar PV plant in a remote location heard an explosion. They then discovered a fire at a reactive power compensator in a container at the site. Although tried to manage the fire using fire extinguishers, it was too big to control, and the civil defence were called in.
The solar PV plant had just been handed over and just started generating power and supplying it to the grid operator through a transmission substation at the site. CEERISK experts were appointed to investigate by the loss adjuster.
During the investigation, it was revealed that multiple failures had occurred at the time of the loss including electrical faults within the container housing the VAR compensator. Severe damage resulting from electrical arcing was identified at the cable connection points inside the device.
Experts concluded that the fire was caused by electrical faults. The arcing caused consumption of cable insulation in the area which led to additional faults, when the circuit breakers failed to interrupt the circuit.
Following the loss, a claim was made to replace the entire system including a power transformer connected to the VAR compensator based on speculation that the transformer must have sustained damage, as evidenced by oil leak at multiple locations.
CEEERISK was again appointed to investigate the extent of damage and determine whether the transformer was affected by the loss. Comprehensive electrical testing of the transformer including dissolved gas analysis by third party labs in the UK, revealed that there was no sign of electrical damage to the transformer windings and that oil leaks were a result of manufacturing defect which caused the gaskets used by the manufacturer to deteriorate as a result of extreme ambient temperatures.
