Utility-scale battery energy storage is safe and highly regulated, growing safer as technology advances and as regulations adopt the most up-to-date safety standards.
In general, energy that is stored has the potential for release in an uncontrolled manner, potentially endangering equipment, the environment, or people. All energy storage systems have hazards. Some hazards are easily mitigated to reduce risk, and others require more dedicated planning and execution to maintain safety.
The safety issue reported relates to a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) which was built and commissioned in 2018. Due to the drive to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and limit carbon emissions, renewable energy sources are increasingly being used.
Interest in storage safety considerations is substantially increasing, yet newer system designs can be quite different than prior versions in terms of risk mitigation. An uncontrolled release of energy is an inevitable and dangerous possibility with storing energy in any form.
Battery Energy Storage System accidents often incur severe losses in the form of human health and safety, damage to the property and energy production losses.
Energy storage systems (ESS) are critical to a clean and efficient electric grid, storing clean energy and enabling its use when it is needed. Installation is accelerating rapidly—as of Q3 2023, there was seven times more utility-scale energy storage capacity operating than at the end of 2020.
Despite widely known hazards and safety design of grid-scale battery energy storage systems, there is a lack of established risk management schemes and models as compared to the chemical, aviation, nuclear and the petroleum industry.
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