Short circuits as a result

Floods now cause explosions at power plant

The entire power plant site was several meters under water in September.

(Bild: P. Huber)

Detonations have been "shaking" the EVN solar power plant in Dürnrohr since the floods in September! Chemical reactions are causing the inverters in the PV system to blow up.

"Our company fire department has been on permanent duty for weeks. The men and women are doing a great job in this extreme situation. First they secured and pumped out, now the Florianis have to go out very often because of burning panels," says EVN spokesman Stefan Zach, paying tribute to the helpers.

Fatal chain reaction: since the water level has been slowly receding after the big flood thanks to consistent pumping, the panels of the large PV system are also coming to light. However, the now unavoidable sunlight produces direct current, which is fed to the inverters below. This is where electrolysis takes place - splitting the water into hydrogen (a flammable gas) and oxygen. The chemical result: sparks trigger explosions!

Solar power will not flow for a few months
"All 71 inverters are broken, as are the four transformer stations through which the solar power is fed into the grid. Replacements have already been ordered, but delivery and installation will take several months. Only then will it be possible to generate solar power for our customers again on the old coal piles," says Zach.

During the flood, the entire power plant site was flooded after the dam burst. The low-lying areas of the PV plant were completely submerged.

EVN-Chef-Kommunikator Stefan Zach

Danger to life: everything was under water
The experienced green energy expert explains why the situation could not be remedied quickly by the fact that the inverters could not be separated from the panels. This was because the dirty brown flood water had flooded the plant within a very short time due to the bursting of the Perschling dam in the district of Tulln.

The modules were only dimly visible under the up to three-metre-high masses of water. Everything was under power - any intervention would have been life-threatening.