Solar panel fires in the UK rose 133% between 2022 and 2025, more than double the 52% growth rate of installations over the same period. The findings come from QBE Insurance research based on Freedom of Information requests to 49 UK fire services. Government policy is set to push more buildings, both commercial and domestic, into this risk class.
UK fire services attended 212 fires involving solar panels in 2025, up from 91 in 2022. The UK's installation count surpassed two million for the first time in March 2026 and stood at 2,047,225 as of May 2026.
The data points clearly to cause. DC cabling and connectors were the leading source of fires in 2025, accounting for 49 incidents, nearly double the 26 recorded in 2024. The solar panel itself caused 36 fires, battery banks 23, and inverters 19.
Adrian Simmonds, risk manager at QBE Insurance, said the cabling trend points directly to installation quality. "Loose connections, damaged wires and faulty wiring lead to arc faults and other electrical failures," he said. "Every solar panel system, whether on a home, warehouse or solar farm, should be installed using MCS accredited installers and consistently maintained."
AXA UK separately flagged solar panel fire risk following 2024 fires at a Lidl warehouse in Peterborough, a block of flats in Lewisham and a school in Cramlington. The insurer noted that many policyholders treat solar systems as "fit and forget" installations.
Many insurers now require proof of installation under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a condition of cover, reflecting a broader market shift toward treating installation quality as an underwriting variable.
Given how directly installation quality tracks with fire cause, there's a concrete submission step worth making standard practice on any new or renewing solar-equipped risk: request the client's MCS certificate and installer accreditation number directly, rather than accepting a general assurance that the system was "professionally installed." A genuine MCS certificate names the accredited installer and confirms the specific standard the installation was assessed against, which is exactly the documentation an insurer increasingly wants on file if a cabling-related claim arises.
The second document is a battery storage location record. Simmonds has flagged unit placement as a critical, often-overlooked factor: "Units placed in confined or hard-to-access spaces, combined with infrequent inspection, create the conditions for fires that are both more likely and harder to contain." For any commercial or residential client with lithium-ion battery storage, confirming where the unit sits, and whether it's genuinely accessible for inspection and emergency response, is a five-minute conversation that meaningfully strengthens a submission relative to one that simply notes "battery storage present."
Beyond frequency, fire severity is worsening. The number of fires spreading beyond the solar installation itself nearly tripled between 2022 and 2025, rising from 33 to 88. Lithium-ion battery storage, now standard in many new systems, is a key contributing factor.
Lithium-ion fires cause thermal runaway, a chemical reaction in which batteries irreversibly overheat due to impact damage, overcharging or overheating. Such fires can require up to 10 times more water to contain than a conventional fire. Separate QBE research found UK fire brigades tackled a lithium-ion battery fire once every five hours in 2025.
The battery dimension compounds an already difficult data environment for brokers placing commercial property risk. Insurers pricing lithium-ion fire risk are working with incomplete loss information, a gap that is more likely to produce tighter terms and higher premiums than the reverse.
The gap between adoption pace and fire safety is sharpest in commercial and industrial buildings. Commercial property fires rose 46% year-on-year, from 33 in 2024 to 48 in 2025. Industrial buildings recorded 14 fires in 2025, up from six in 2024, a 133% jump in a single year.
The government's Solar Roadmap places commercial and industrial rooftop solar at the heart of its Clean Power 2030 mission, targeting warehouses, retail spaces, and industrial buildings. The Future Homes Standard, taking effect in March 2028, mandates onsite renewable energy generation in all new-build domestic properties.
According to the QBE report, residential properties accounted for the majority of fires in 2025, with 102 incidents. As the installed base grows and installation volumes accelerate, the gap between fire frequency and installation rate is the metric brokers should watch, and the MCS certificate and battery location record are the two concrete items that should be sitting in every solar-equipped file well before that gap shows up in a claim.
QBE's FOI requests were made in February 2026, with responses received from 46 of 49 fire services by April 2026.
