The perils of battery storage are complex. Do your clients know what they’re up against?

Battery storage is becoming a critical part of the grid

Today, it takes only one millisecond to tap into stored energy to satisfy a customer’s need. Battery storage is key to facilitating this transfer.

The decline in average battery pack prices by 89% since 2010, is helping to drive growth in the in the battery storage industry, making it increasingly competitive. Now energy storage has the potential to play a major role in maintaining a more stable supply of electricity across the whole power grid.¹

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BloombergNEF predicts investment of US$262 billion by 2030².

Global installed storage capacity is forecast to expand by 56%to over 270 GW by 2026³.

US to have 49% of global cumulative capacity by 2030⁴.

The risks facing battery storage projects

As a new technology, the risks around Battery Energy Storage are still evolving. If installed and managed correctly the risk of battery failure is seen to be small. Despite this the Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery storage industry has been plagued by a series of project fires, most notably in South Korea. These events caused varying levels of damage to the battery systems themselves, but in April 2019, an explosion at a battery storage project owned by the utility Arizona Public Service (APS), destroyed the project and injured four firefighters.⁴

If a battery is going to catch fire, the likely cause is thermal runaway. This is when a battery experiences an increase in temperature that eventually leads to cell short-circuiting or disintegration that can spark a fire.

There are three main abuse factors that can send a Li-Ion battery into thermal runaway: mechanical, thermal or electrical.

Mechanical

Physical damage to the unit, which can generate gases or increase the heat of a battery cell.

Thermal

Air conditioning or airflow not reaching the cells, allowing heat to build up.

Electrical

A fault within a battery cell caused by a defect or improper operation.

To minimise the risk of thermal runaway occurring the integrity of the cells and the way that the battery system is operated should be managed very carefully. Fire detection and suppression design also has an important role to play in halting a fire before thermal runaway starts.

The perils of battery storage are complex. Do your clients know what they’re up against?

Battery storage is becoming a critical part of the grid

The risks facing battery storage projects

There are three main abuse factors that can send a Li-Ion battery into thermal runaway: mechanical, thermal or electrical.

Mechanical

Thermal

Electrical

To minimise the risk of thermal runaway occurring the integrity of the cells and the way that the battery system is operated should be managed very carefully. Fire detection and suppression design also has an important role to play in halting a fire before thermal runaway starts.

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The perils of battery storage are complex. Do your clients know what they’re up against?

Battery storage is becoming a critical part of the grid

The risks facing battery storage projects

There are three main abuse factors that can send a Li-Ion battery into thermal runaway: mechanical, thermal or electrical.

Mechanical

Thermal

Electrical

To minimise the risk of thermal runaway occurring the integrity of the cells and the way that the battery system is operated should be managed very carefully. Fire detection and suppression design also has an important role to play in halting a fire before thermal runaway starts.

Lifecycle

Resources

Whitepapers

Whitepaper

Tropical Storm Preparedness Whitepaper

Questions? Contact us.

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