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New standard NBR 17193 brings significant changes to the photovoltaic sector. Understand what changes in the rules for solar energy and how this affects consumers, installers and companies in the sector.
A new technical standard is significantly changing the rules for solar energy systems in Brazil. Published in 2025, NBR 17193 establishes a series of new safety requirements, especially related to fire prevention and fighting in photovoltaic installations — both residential and commercial and industrial.
Developed by Brazilian Technical Standards Association (ABNT), the standard has significant impacts on designers, installers, equipment manufacturers and even end consumers who already have or wish to adopt solar energy in their properties. The regulation seeks to ensure greater safety in installations and prevent accidents, such as short circuits and fires caused by technical failures or installation errors.
As expected, Several doubts arose about what changes in practice, who will be impacted and what must be done to comply with the new technical legislation.
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With that in mind, in this article we will explain clearly and objectively the main points of NBR 17193:2025, answer the most frequently asked questions and help you understand how to adapt to the new requirements of the solar energy sector in Brazil.
Understand who the new solar energy rules apply to
It is very likely that you have seen images of photovoltaic systems catching fire. This is not common, but when it happens it is usually due to poorly done installations, projects that were not followed correctly or even incorrectly designed.
It is precisely to avoid this type of problem that the new standard NBR17193 of 2025 was created, bringing new requirements to increase safety and reduce the risk of fires and electric shocks in photovoltaic installations in buildings.
It is important to mention that these new solar energy rules do not apply to ground-based plants, which are those that are installed on isolated plots of land on the ground itself, as the name suggests. They apply exclusively to photovoltaic systems installed on buildings, their envelopes and associated risk areas.
The new standard NBR 17193 is valid for any type of construction, whether residential, commercial, industrial or public or private.
So for any installation where the modules are on a building structure, such as a roof, or integrated into the building, such as those panels that replace the glass in facades, the new standard NBR 17193 is valid.
Main requirements of the new rules in the solar energy market
Among all the requirements, two attracted the most attention and generated many questions: protection against electric arcs, which is the AFCI, and, mainly, the rapid shutdown function, which is the FDR. The AFCI is a safety device capable of identifying and interrupting electric arcs before they cause a fire.
IMET, for example, published ordinance 515 of 2023 which made this protection mandatory for inverters and microinverters that operate with voltage above 120 V and current above 20 A.
This requirement came into effect for equipment manufactured or imported from December 2024 onwards, so the market had already been preparing for this change. In the new NBR 17193 standard, this requirement remains exactly the same and can be integrated into the equipment itself or added as an external device in the installation.
The quick shutdown function was designed to increase the safety of firefighters and maintenance teams, reducing the risk of electric shock during a fire or intervention in the system. This is because this function will reduce the system voltage to a safe level when it is activated within 30 seconds.
The standard requires that this shutdown occur with just one maneuver, either manually or automatically, thus ensuring that the installation can be de-energized quickly and efficiently when it is actually necessary.
New rules in the solar energy sector could make systems more expensive
Some adjustments may in fact have an additional cost, this is obvious, since it is an additional component that you are installing, especially for systems that require extra devices.
This is one of the advantages of AP Systems microinverters, for example, since customers will not need to invest in this new device, because they have already been designed to operate below 120 V and 20 A so that they actually meet this standard.
But overall, on the bright side, this standard brings more security and reliability to the sector. And this can be a differentiator when presenting a project to your client, showing that you are investing in a safer system that complies with the new standards.
In addition to rapid shutdown and arc flash protection, the standard also brought other changes, such as minimum distance between modules and stricter rules for electrical connections.
