Get Used To It - The Mainstream Media Will Not Play Nicely
*An explanation of the above image follows later for younger readers
An off-duty firefighter notices smoke coming from the roof of a home in Wellingborough and alerts the occupants who safely evacuate the premises. The fire brigade extinguishes the fire, but only after the whole roof has burned away.
This story was first reported by The Northants Telegraph, (26th May 2026, 12:26 BST) together with timelapse footage from a doorbell cam on the house opposite taking pictures every few minutes and animating them into a video.
This article reports the incident in a factual way, noting that the house has solar panels installed.
The story was picked up by everyone's favourite tabloid, The Sun, a day later (22:53, 28 May 2026)
In this telling of the story the doorbell footage shows the "terrifying! moment" that the "solar panels EXPLODED! ripping a hole! through the roof" and that the family "scrambled! to safety" as neighbours "watched in horror!"
The Sun article also includes the timelapse footage from the doorbell which, when combined with the misleading headline, does indeed look like the roof exploded.
Next up the so-called quality press gets involved. On 8th June The Sunday Times published an article written by Matthew Young of 21 Degrees in its 'Home Help' column offering advice on best practice installation of solar panels. Matthew noted that solar is an electrical installation and comes with risks similar to those of other electrical appliances in the home, before outlining his advice such as choosing quality products from established manufacturers and having the system designed and installed by a company registered with the Microgeneration Certificaiton Scheme (MCS). Despite all the sensible content, the article is published under the headline "Should I worry about solar panels exploding in hot weather?"
Meantime, back in the real world, fire investigators from Northampton Fire and Rescue Service return to the site to understand the cause of the fire. The investigation concludes that the fire was likely due to an electrical fault in the loft, but it was impossible to narrow down the cause further due to challenges with access to the now structurally unsound roof.
So even after the investigation all we really know is that a house with solar panels on it had a fire and the fire started in the loft - maybe from elements of the solar installation, maybe from other electrical equipment. Can we expect a retraction from the tabloids? That solar panels don't explode blowing holes in roofs? Not likely.
An old school friend of mine who had worked on the news desk at the Daily Mail once told me how they would know when their work was done. Their readership would be too terrified to get out of their beds, at which point he would run a story about the dangers of bedsores.
Just like the bogus headline about a UK comedian putting a friend's pet hamster between two slices of bread to create a tasty late night snack, the news cycle has already moved on by the time the truth emerges. People remember that solar panels can explode suddenly and our industry is just a little bit worse off.
What should the Solar Industry do?
We need to recognise two irrefutable facts.
1. There will be fires on more and more buildings that have a solar installation.
The number of homes and commercial buildings with solar has grown to become a meaningful proportion of all buildings (more than 2 million solar installations in the UK). Some of these buildings will suffer from fires - whether started by the solar or not, but people still see the 'new' thing on the roof and reach for a quick explanation - or maybe in the case of some of our national press, an explanation that fits in with a particular world-view. The number of stories like this will grow.
2. In some cases the solar installation will be the cause of the fire.
Solar is a very safe technology, but a solar PV installation is an electrical installation and has all the risks that come with that, and perhaps adds in a few more of its own. Solar remains energised while the panels have daylight, and the DC current side suffers from higher arcing risks due to the comparative stability of the DC arc.
An Action Plan for the Solar Industry
1. Reach a consensus on current best practice for fire safe solar installations, promote its uptake across the industry. There is already work going on in this area, notably by Jonathan Bates at Solar Energy UK and the team reviewing the RC62 document.
2. Consider adopting as mandatory some of these best practice measures through changes to MCS standards.
3. Gather quantitative evidence on the relative fire risks from solar installations. The most recent studies are more than 10 years old and the technology has evolved greatly since then. The recently launched PV-FIN initiative is building evidence on the causes of fires involving solar equipment. Crucially this work aims to add near-miss evidence, which is especially useful since collecting meaningful physical evidence from the aftermath of a well developed fire is difficult. This work should be welcomed by the industry and its findings, when they come, studied carefully before further updating the best practice guides.
What the industry cannot do is just hope that the news cycle moves on and reporting of "solar fires" will be forgotten. Parts of the UK media continue to promote negative news about electric vehicles, heat pumps and utility scale solar. These outlets are unlikely to let the facts get in the way of a good story that is damaging to the solar industry.
*Freddie Starr was a stand up comedian and entertainer in the UK at his peak of fame in the 1970s. In 1986 one of the best-known British tabloid newspaper headlines of all time featured Starr. The Sun ran its front page with "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster". The man behind the hamster story was Starr's agent, the British publicist, Max Clifford - at that time Starr's agent.
