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From pv magazine USA
Yesterday afternoon, Walmart brought a lawsuit against Tesla in the United States over fires allegedly caused by photovoltaic installations designed, installed, owned and maintained by Tesla / SolarCity in its stores in three states.
Walmart has seven fires in total, but only four are under contract with Tesla and not SolarCity prior to the acquisition. These four stations started from March to November 2018 and include a network that was supposed to be off and that caught fire again in November.
The retail giant is asking Tesla to remove the 240 systems installed in Walmart stores, but also other damages, including the payment of its consultants. These represent more than half of the sites where Walmart installed solar power and would certainly reduce Walmart's enviable ranking among companies that switched to solar energy.
"Failure to comply with industry standards"
But the most interesting part of this case so far is probably the very serious WalMart claims about Tesla's installation, operation and maintenance practices. The 114-page meeting, put online by Electrek, is rather overwhelming.
To be clear, Walmart does not claim that solar energy is not safe; but rather that Tesla did a very poor job of installing and maintaining these systems:
"To point out that solar systems that are visible, properly designed, installed, inspected and maintained do not spontaneously ignite, and the occurrence of multiple fires involving Tesla solar systems is only one of the reasons for this." undeniable sign of Tesla's negligence … However, the number of defects is overwhelming and clearly indicative of Tesla's systemic and widespread failures to meet the standards of due diligence set forth in the contracts in effect, with respect to solar systems installed at Walmart stores . "
According to Walmart, the systems inspections revealed "widespread and systemic negligence and failed to follow prudent industry practices for the installation, operation, and maintenance of its solar systems," which significantly increased the risk of fires.
Of the evidence on this subject, Walmart stated that it discovered a large number of microcracks, hot spots and damage in the backsheet, suggesting the installation of damaged solar panels.
"For example, the solar panels at the sites inspected contained many hot spots, or localized areas at high and excessive temperature, as well as yellow encapsulants and micro-fissures, precursors to hot spots. Many of these defects were either visible to the naked eye, or easily identifiable through the proper use of standard equipment, indicating that Tesla had not inspected the sites or that its protocols were not available. The inspection was terribly deficient. "
Another allegation is that Tesla's inspection teams do not have the skills to do their job: "Walmart quickly discovered that Tesla regularly deployed people to inspect solar systems with no training and basic energy knowledge. solar. Tesla staff did not know, for example, how to conduct inspections or use simple tools, such as temperature measuring "guns" used to detect hot spots, and a Tesla employee did not know. not identified several hot spots observed by Walmart consultants.
But Walmart also points out that most of the problems are due to a "reckless and careless approach" to installing the systems, blaming SolarCity's business strategy here.
"On the basis of information and beliefs, the predecessor in the interest of Tesla, SolarCity, had adopted a rash business model that required him to install solar panel systems at random and so quickly as possible in order to generate profits. Contractors and subcontractors who performed the original installation work had not been properly hired, trained and supervised. "
Tesla had not responded to pv magazine request for response to these allegations by the time press.
A bad look for the solar
It's a little ironic that these allegations of poor quality practices aimed at maximizing profits come from a company that has become the world's largest retailer by offering cheap products to the masses while paying low wages to its customers. workers and lowering the prices it pays to suppliers. and entrepreneurs.
In any case, it is far from the first criticisms that have been made about SolarCity's continued growth at all costs, which has allowed it to capture a third of the US residential market at its peak, but could also have required a rescue plan in the form of the acquisition by Tesla. However, most of the previous allegations seen by pv magazine focused on dishonest business practices and not on the security of its facilities.
It remains to be seen how much these headlines will affect the entire solar industry. But the more general question is whether the solar industry is effectively protecting itself against the bad players that are saving money, and whether these problems are limited to a single company or not.
To further explore quality and safety issues in solar projects, attend our Solar Power International Quality Roundtable in Salt Lake City on September 25th.
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