As global decarbonization accelerates the need for extensive solar photovoltaic deployment, land‐use conflicts have become increasingly pressing. Integrating PV into the built environment emerges as an effective strategy to mitigate these challenges by generating electricity where it is consumed. However, the polymeric encapsulant—a core material in photovoltaic (PV) modules—introduces critical fire safety concerns, particularly in building applications with strict regulatory requirements. This review addresses the issue with a dual approach. First, it presents various solutions to mitigate fire hazards, such as the incorporation of flame retardants, and defines five families of the latter solutions. Despite the central role of the encapsulant in module flammability, little research has focused on the use of flame retardants in photovoltaic modules. Then, a review of the existing standards and testing approaches that can be used for the assessment of building‐integrated photovoltaic fire safety is presented. Based on the findings, a methodology for the evaluation of the fire performance is also proposed, with this framework evaluated at both the material and module levels.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in buildings must comply with both electrotechnical standards for module safety and local building codes, which typically do not address their electrical nature. This regulatory gap creates challenges in assessing the fire performance of PV systems. This paper presents a procedure to adapt a common test method used in some building codes to assess external fire conditions for roofs, while maintaining operative PV modules. Two configurations were tested: an organic PV thin film on a metallic sandwich panel and a glass–glass-encapsulated organic PV module. The tests were conducted under high voltage and current conditions to simulate the systems’ behavior within a larger PV array. Significant electric arcs were observed during testing of the metallic sandwich panel configuration without glass protection when subjected to high voltages or currents. In these cases, total heat release increased by at least 30% compared to non-electrically loaded scenarios or glass-insulated PV modules, likely due to a greater damaged surface area. Electric arcs created new ignition sources, damaging whole PV modules, whereas in the case with no electrical load, propagation flames advanced toward both the upper edge and the corners of the sample, ultimately damaging the entire triangular area above the fire source. The results indicate that the electrical characteristics of PV systems can significantly impact external fire spread behavior. The study identifies challenges in maintaining system activity during testing and simulating real scenarios and proposes for future research directions.