Solar installations are a great addition to homes as they generate renewable electricity even on cloudy days. Safety wise, it’s among the most reliable technologies available. This is because while any electrical device carries a potential fire risk, incidents involving solar installations are very rare.

When issues do arise, they are typically linked to poor installation or faulty components, not the solar technology itself.

Rooftop solar panels are generally very safe and rarely cause issues, provided they use quality components and are installed by certified professionals.

However, while they do not pose direct health hazards, improper installation can lead to structural damage, roof leaks, or electrical fires, according to past president of the Nigerian Institute of Building, NIOB, and pioneer president of Building Collapse Prevention Guild BCPG, Kunle Awobodu.

According to him, the leakages are particularly noticeable during rainy season in buildings covered with alluminium roofing sheets, pointing out that the leakages occur due to incompetent solar panel installers.

He added that the issue of leakages in homes as a result of bad solar panel installations is a major problem associated with solar panels on rooftops in Nigeria.

In his reaction to installation of solar panels on rooftops, Dr Arc. Otuoke Augustine, said

“Structural risks from solar panel installations primarily involve weight distribution problems and roof integrity issues if the installations were not taken into at conception of the design of a building. Solar panels add approximately 2-4 pounds per square foot to your roof, which can strain older structures or roofs not designed for additional loads. Poor weight distribution creates stress points that may lead to sagging, cracking, or structural failure over time.

“Roof age and condition play a critical role in installation safety. Roofs older than 15 years or those with existing damage may not withstand the mounting process or long-term panel weight. Structural integrity assessments should evaluate load-bearing capacity, rafter spacing, and overall roof condition before installation begins.

“The mounting process itself can damage roof materials. Drilling penetrations for mounting hardware weakens the roof structure, while improper fastening techniques can cause immediate or gradual deterioration. Heavy equipment used during installation may crack tiles, damage membranes, or stress underlying support structures.

“Professional structural evaluations identify potential problems before they become costly repairs. Engineers can determine whether reinforcement is needed and specify appropriate mounting systems for your specific roof type and condition.

“Roof leaks from solar installations typically result from improper penetration sealing and flashing installation errors. Every mounting point creates a potential water entry path, and inadequate sealing around these penetrations allows water infiltration that can cause extensive structural damage over time.

“Flashing installation requires precise technique and high-quality materials. Poor flashing work around mounting points, conduit penetrations, and roof transitions creates immediate leak risks. Many installers lack proper roofing experience, leading to substandard waterproofing that fails during the first heavy rain.

“Roof membrane damage during installation creates additional leak sources. Walking on fragile roof materials, dropping tools, or using inappropriate fasteners can puncture membranes or damage protective coatings. These issues may not become apparent until water damage appears inside the building.

“Long-term waterproofing concerns include sealant degradation, thermal cycling effects on seals, and maintenance access issues. Sealants require periodic inspection and replacement, but many building owners do not realize this ongoing maintenance responsibility until leaks develop.

“Common installer errors include improper mounting techniques that compromise both system performance and roof integrity. Using incorrect fasteners, inadequate spacing, or poor alignment creates immediate problems and long-term reliability issues. Shortcuts during installation often result in premature system failures and safety hazards.

“Inadequate permits and code compliance represent serious installation mistakes. Unpermitted installations may not meet safety standards, can complicate insurance claims, and often require costly corrections to achieve compliance. Professional installations should always include proper permitting and inspections.

“Poor-quality equipment selection affects system longevity and performance. Some installers use substandard components to reduce costs, leading to premature failures and reduced energy production. Quality equipment from reputable manufacturers provides better long-term value despite higher upfront costs.

“Installation shortcuts that compromise system performance include inadequate cable management, poor electrical connections, and insufficient system testing. These issues may not become apparent immediately but can lead to reduced efficiency, safety hazards, and expensive repairs over the system’s lifetime.”
‘Solar installations are good, but…’

Former Deputy President of Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers NIStructE, Engr. Johnson Adeyoye, in his view said “Solar installation is good if properly installed and if handled by competent professionals, qualified engineers, technicians, installers. Solar power system consists of solar panels on top of roofs, solar charge controller, inverter and batteries which can be tubular(with acid/distilled water), dry cell or lithium ion.

“Lithium batteries are the best, but slightly more expensive. Decision on the type of batteries depend on the pocket and economics. Solar energy installations if properly installed, are safe and durable. Even the quality of transmission cable/ wire used in the insallation is very important, provided it is not the cheap Chinese made wire/ cable.

“Nigerian made cables/wires of the appropriate diameter/rating are known to be more durable, slightly more expensive and therefore preferable. The China made cables/wires imported into Nigeria are not of standard quality. Solar power installations are safe if properly installed.

On a personal note, I have been using solar power for well over a decade and because of proper installation with the right materials (quality wise), it has been very good.”

In his response, a certified sollar panel installer, Ikechukwu Henry, said “Rooftop solar systems are generally safe when they are properly designed, installed, inspected, and maintained. Most incidents involving fires, roof leakages, or structural damage result from poor workmanship, substandard materials, inadequate maintenance, or failure to comply with established engineering standards rather than from solar technology itself.”

Solar and roof leaks
According to him, Solar installations can cause roof leaks when roof penetrations are not properly sealed, incorrect mounting methods damage roofing sheets or waterproof membranes, rust develops around mounting bolts and expansion and contraction loosen fasteners over time.

To prevent these causes, Henry noted that “Use appropriate flashing and waterproof sealants, employ non-penetrating mounting systems where suitable, conduct periodic roof inspections and
follow manufacturer installation guidelines.”

To prevent solar panel installation from causing structural damage on buildings, Henry explained that before rooftop installation, there is need to investigate the following: “Additional dead load from solar panels and mounting structures, wind uplift forces, roof deflection, corrosion of roof members and damage caused during installation.”

He therefore recommend need for structural assessment before installation, wind-load analysis, compliance with structural design codes and use of corrosion-resistant mounting materials, advising that those planning to instal solar panels on their rooftops should follow safety standards and regulations.

The U.S. and its allies are accelerating pipelines, export terminals, and overland trade corridors to reduce global dependence on the Strait of Hormuz and weaken Iran’s ability to disrupt oil markets.
Key projects include expanded Saudi and UAE pipeline capacity, new Iraqi export routes to Turkey and Syria, and the fast-tracked India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), designed to bypass Hormuz.

Washington is also seeking to diversify global oil supplies by boosting production across the Americas, aiming to ensure future Hormuz disruptions have a far smaller impact on energy markets and oil prices.

Kuwait oil industry
For decades, Iran has relied on the Strait of Hormuz as its most effective geopolitical weapon — a crucial energy chokepoint through which up to a third of the world’s oil is transported and about a fifth of its liquefied natural gas (LNG). Tehran’s immediate blockade of the transit route at the onset of the 28 February U.S./Israeli joint military operation against Iran prompted a cessation of maritime traffic through the chokepoint, catalysing a spike in oil prices of over 70%. The prospect of such a blockade continuing into the U.S.’s 3 November Mid-Term Elections was the decisive factor behind President Donald Trump’s willingness to forge a peace deal, at least in the short term. This is because there is a direct link between the oil price, the price of gasoline, U.S. economic growth, and the success of incumbent presidents and their parties in elections, as fully analysed in my latest book on the new global oil market order.

Understandably, according to several senior energy security sources in London, Brussels, and Washington, exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com over the past few days, moves are afoot to reshape the regional energy map to ensure that Iran’s Hormuz threat becomes increasingly ineffective in the coming years. So, what exactly is going on right now?

Trump is fully in favour of medium- and long-term methods to circumvent the effectively Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz, particularly given the relative ineffectiveness of the short-term measures available once Tehran’s blockade was in place. The ‘Southern Highway’ corridor that hugged the coast of Oman and was actively backed by U.S. and Gulf allies proved slightly more effective at reducing market panic than it was at restoring the number of oil tankers in transit. During peak operations early in the blockade, the corridor allowed roughly a dozen vessels per weekend to transit, rising to around 119 ships by late June — still a long way off the historical 700 weekly transits normal for the waterway. Similarly taking the edge off market panic but still representing a fraction of what was required over the medium- and long-term to keep oil prices from spiralling, were the land-based routes for trucks carrying oil through Iraq and Syria. Iraq’s case is instructive, as it managed to move around 500 trucks on average a day into Syria at the height of the blockade, with each one carrying around 250 barrels of crude oil — totalling 125,000 barrels per day (bpd). That compared to the previous 3.3-3.4 million bpd it moved through the Strait of Hormuz before the blockade.

More significant options were also used alongside these makeshift measures, with one being the capacity expansion of Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline (1,200 km long, moving crude from eastern oil fields across the Arabian Peninsula to the Red Sea port of Yanbu) to 7 million bpd for a while. However, Yanbu’s marine terminal and domestic refining create a bottleneck, capping actual export throughput at around 4.5 million bpd. Another option was the UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah Pipeline (360 km long, linking Abu Dhabi’s fields directly to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman), which has seen capacity increase to its maximum level of 1.8 million bpd.

At the same time, further support came from increased oil supply from the U.S. and other countries, massive releases of barrels from the strategic petroleum reserves of International Energy Agency member countries, and a massive, multi-year oil supply surplus that acted as critical energy buffers to broader economic fallout when the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz hit. That said, going into the crisis, the U.S. oil industry was already pumping at absolute record highs, providing a vital supply baseline of 13.6 million bpd.

Despite calls from Trump for this figure to be ramped up, big independent producers and majors are maintaining pre-war capital expenditure plans, with many having stated that they are already running close to full capacity. However, increased flows from countries Washington regards as being in its ‘Americas sphere of influence’ — notably Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil — are intended to form part of the long-term workaround for the dominance of the Strait of Hormuz in world oil flows.

Venezuela remains at the top of the U.S.’s list for resuscitation of its potentially huge oil sector, with Argentina and Brazil not far behind and already producing significant increases in barrels, as analysed in full recently by OilPrice.com.

The Americas hemisphere already accounts for 32% of global crude production, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, Caleb Orr, highlighted recently that Ecuador and El Salvador are also among the governments Washington works with “hand in glove” on security. He added that security is the “table stakes” for any productive economic relationship and the foundation of the broad-based change in the Americas.

That said, this is only one part of the solution to the bypassing of the Strait of Hormuz puzzle currently being worked on by Washington and its allies, including those in the Middle East. The first phase of these efforts looks to bypass up to 50% of the normal 20-21 million bpd oil flow going through the Strait using existing overland corridors and fast-tracked construction. The UAE, for example, is already fast-tracking a second parallel pipeline to Fujairah, which should double its bypass capacity to over 3 million bpd, with completion brought forward to 2027.

A similar U.S.-inspired idea is to enable Iraq to bypass the Strait by pumping more northern oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, with capacity here recently reactivated to handle 170,000-250,000 bpd. Progress has been halted by a failure to reach an agreement with Turkey, as also detailed recently by OilPrice.com, but given how geopolitically important it is to the U.S. and its allies, the impasse looks unlikely to persist too much longer, according to a senior source who works closely with the European Union’s (E.U.) energy security complex. Other pipelines running through Iraq and into Syria, Jordan, or Oman are also under discussion, the source adds.

Just last week, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, met with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Damascus to advance plans for expanding cooperation on energy infrastructure, including the project to rehabilitate the 800-kilometre pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk to the Syrian port of Banias, which has a historical design capacity of 300,000 bpd. Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi and U.S.

Special Presidential Envoy Tom Barrack advanced a memorandum of understanding with U.S.-based investment firm TI Capital to fund and project-manage the pipeline’s reconstruction. In parallel with this, the U.S. and its allies are also fast-tracking the huge Basra-Haditha Pipeline, as detailed in my latest book on the new global oil market order. This US$5 billion, 700-km internal pipeline would run from the southern oil fields of Iraq up to Haditha and would have a capacity of 2.25-2.5 million bpd.

When finished, it would allow Iraq to pump its enormous southern oil reserves directly to the north and into Europe or Syria, completely bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Perhaps the single-most strategically important component of the U.S.-led effort to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz is the long-planned but now dynamically expedited India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Originally launched at the 2023 G20 Summit but stalled by regional conflict, the project has been turbocharged by the Strait of Hormuz blockade, with planners now estimating that it could eventually divert around 60% of container traffic that currently risks transiting Hormuz. Its architecture is built around two integrated corridors: an eastern maritime leg linking India’s western ports to the Arabian Gulf, and a northern overland rail network running through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel’s Port of Haifa, from where short?sea shipping connects directly to Europe.

Crucially, the 2026 wartime redesign anchors the eastern maritime leg in Oman rather than the UAE, allowing ships from India to unload entirely outside the Strait of Hormuz before transferring cargo onto the Arabian Peninsula rail grid.

Additional ‘IMEC Plus’ nodes through Egypt and Syria are under discussion to create a wider lattice of land-based alternatives, while new legal frameworks — including the India-EU free trade agreement and the U.S. Senate’s Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act — have formally designated Greece as Europe’s entry hub, according to the E.U. source. This positions IMEC as a central pillar of the broader strategy to bypass Hormuz and permanently reduce Iran’s ability to weaponise the chokepoint.

These measures demonstrate that Washington and its allies are no longer relying on short-term crisis management but are instead building a permanent, multi-route architecture that makes any future blockade far less economically damaging. Iran will retain the ability to disrupt regional shipping, but its leverage over global oil flows is being structurally eroded with every kilometre of new pipeline, port expansion, and corridor redesign. The long-term objective is clear: ensure that the next Hormuz crisis does not become a global one.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

We were hopelessly lost in the Sudanese desert. Then villagers offered us a hut to stay in
We were exhausted and in need of rest. In the morning, the kind locals prepared a huge breakfast and refused to accept any payment

Kindness of strangers series
Hugh Allen, as told to Katie Cunningham

Sudan in the 1980s was relatively quiet. In 1987 I was based there, working for aid agency Care in the final years before Omar al-Bashir seized power.

One day I was returning from the city of El Obeid to the capital, Khartoum. After two weeks of dust and extreme heat we were thankful to be travelling overland across the desert at night, when it would be cooler. There were no tarmac roads, just dusty tracks. Two colleagues, our driver and I left at sundown for what should have been a six or seven-hour drive.

But by about 2am, it was obvious our driver was hopelessly lost. He insisted we were still headed north-east but the stars told us we were, in fact, headed west. The dominant emotion wasn’t fear but exhaustion. The Sudanese people were well known for their friendliness, so I wasn’t worried about my personal safety as a foreigner. We were just tired and in need of rest.

Finally, we saw a small village taking shape out of the darkness, made up mostly of grass huts. We stopped and asked where we were and discovered that we were almost back in El Obeid, after eight hours driving. We’d been round in a huge circle.

The villagers told us to stay. In a moment, they had emptied out a hut, put four beds in there, complete with fresh bedclothes and wished us goodnight – an offer that, having lost all faith in our driver’s navigational skills, we gratefully accepted. In the morning they prepared a huge breakfast with fruit, tea and bread.

Here we were, a bunch of relatively well-off foreigners, offered quite lavish hospitality that the villagers could ill-afford in a blasted, sandy landscape where life was incredibly hard. They gave us what they had, then refused to accept any payment at all, telling us that it was their duty to help people in distress. Despite the extreme poverty and precariousness of their lives, they were unwavering in their commitment to offering hospitality and accepting nothing in return.

I have never forgotten their fidelity to their beliefs and innate generosity, and am always ashamed at the chauvinism that increasingly drives anti-Muslim politics. It is far too easy to demonise people for where they live and what they believe; harder to remember that they, too, have instincts that are profoundly human.