Amazon temporarily shuts down rooftop solar facilities countrywide after fire breakout

Rooftop solar panels were the suspected cause of a recent spate of fires at Amazon fulfillment centers and other facilities, forcing the e-commerce giant to temporarily shut them down.

An Amazon spokesperson told Fox Business that the company “proactively powered off our onsite solar installations in North America” and “took immediate steps to re-inspect each installation by a leading solar technical expert firm” as a result of a few isolated incidents involving onsite solar systems owned and operated by third parties.

Amazon experienced “serious fire or arc flash events” at six locations in North America with solar systems, accounting for around 12.7% of all relevant facilities, according to internal papers obtained by CNBC, which broke the revelation.

According to CNBC, an Amazon employee stated in an internal report that “the number of harmful accidents is unacceptable and above industry averages.” In June 2021, one of these fires occurred at an Amazon warehouse in Perryville, Maryland, and it cost $500,000 to repair the damage.

The reason was “accidental,” according to an inquiry conducted by the Office of the State Fire Marshall, and it included “an undefined event involving the solar panel system.”

As of April, the business had put in solar power at 176 facilities across the globe. “We use contracts to obtain new renewable energy sources.”