‘Electrical Fault’ Caused Warehouse Roof Solar Panel Fire

A FIRE broke out on the 45,000m² roof of a commercial warehouse in Peterborough on the afternoon of Friday 23 February 2024.

The fire was caused by an electrical fault leading to the rooftop solar panels catching light.

The warehouse is owned by Lidl and opened in 2020 at a cost of £70m. It is a distribution centre serving 48 of the food retailer’s stores and employs 400 staff.

The warehouse is the size of eight football pitches and located next to the A1(M) in Cambridgeshire.

Roof Solar Panel Fire

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue service said they were called to the fire at 1.50pm.

Over 50 firefighters were at the scene, as well as a number of fire engines, a turntable ladder, a water carrier and an incident command unit.

All Lidl staff, contractors, and visitors were evacuated safely, and some took shelter at the neighbouring Amazon warehouse.

By 4pm the blaze had been brought under control.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue praised “the quick actions of firefighters to get water on the fire; not an easy task that high up and with a roof that size!

“They saved the building and damage was contained to the roof.”

Electrical Fault

The fire service added that the fire was started accidentally and caused by an electrical fault.

The brand new Lidl distribution centre had 21 rooftop solar panel arrays installed to generate 10% of the total electricity required to run the building.

The four-year-old warehouse used a natural refrigerant system to heat and cool the building. Along with the rooftop solar photovoltaic system, they contributed 10% of the electricity used by the building.

Jasper Parsons, Regional Director at Lidl GB, said: “On behalf of the team here at Lidl I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the police and fire crews that attended our Peterborough distribution centre on Friday afternoon.

“Working quickly and meticulously they did an exceptional job of keeping everyone safe, whilst containing and ultimately extinguishing the fire that broke out on the roof of the building.

“We are also extremely grateful to our neighbours and fellow retail colleagues at Amazon, who kindly opened their doors, providing our teams with support and access to their welfare facilities.

“And finally, I would like to thank all of my own colleagues here at Lidl for their swift actions and clear decision making.

“As a result of everyone’s collective efforts we were able to resume operations in the early evening.”

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