2024 Energy Storage Summit USA EPRI Resources

Deploying Storage in an Urban Space

Media coverage of hazardous incidents involving lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and consumer electronics has caused growing public concern of the safety of battery energy storage systems (BESS) installed in populated areas, especially in cities. The occurrence and reporting of these events underscores the need for continuous safety advances through technical due diligence, evolving codes, and coordinated education to contextually understand, mitigate, and communicate BESS hazards and consequences.

Founded in Palo Alto in 1972, EPRI is an independent non-profit energy research, development, and deployment organization with a foundational mission to benefit society. EPRI delivers independent, objective thought leadership and industry expertise to help the energy sector identify issues, technology gaps, and broader needs that can be addressed through effective, collaborative research and development programs. EPRI is an industry leader in energy storage safety and has developed many tools and resources to move the industry towards a safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy storage future.

This page highlights EPRI's ongoing energy storage safety research program and provides links resources that support and inform decisions around safety of energy storage systems deployed in urban spaces.

EPRI's Energy Storage Safety Research

Fire Prevention and Mitigation for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

With a foundational mission to benefit society, EPRI delivers independent, objective thought leadership and industry expertise to the energy sector. EPRI’s portfolio in energy storage includes a collaborative, multi-phase project to understand and close gaps in energy storage safety and subsequent impacts. Our work brings together industry experts to generate new knowledge, identify best practices, and develop a safety toolkit. The research is made publicly available to advance the industry. EPRI's Battery Energy Storage Fire Prevention and Mitigation project is in Phase 3. Initiated in 2021, Phase 1 of this project consolidated the experience of 15 utility members, 15 non-utility experts, and 10 energy storage site evaluations to identify gaps in safe design and operations of today’s ESS. Phase 2 created a lifecycle safety toolkit, including a retrofit guide, a codes and standards review, emergency response plan guidelines, and more. Moving forward, EPRI will use prior learnings and a new safety roadmap activity to prioritize and further extend the toolkit resources. Industry insights will be incorporated to guide utility owners, operators, and off-takers in their design, procurement, planning, and incident response.

Funding participants include 15 major utilities, project developers and insurance companies across the United States and world. The advisory team consists of diverse stakeholders such as National Labs, Fire Departments, fire safety experts, insurance agencies, and academic institutions. To explore opportunities for collaboration and provide input in Phase 3 of the project, contact Storage-Safety@epri.com.

BESS Failure Event Database

The database is a public resource documenting battery energy storage failures around the world. It catalogs over 100 incidents in utility and commercial/industrial installations, electric transportation, recycling, manufacturing, and warehousing.

Dependent on the availability of failure event information, database entries include system details, location, a description of the failure event, and links to referenced sources. Reviewing failures of urban installations may provide insights for improved safety and reliability.

To be notified of new entries, contact Storage-Safety@epri.com.

Carnegie Road ESS Failure Response, Recovery, and Rebuild Lessons Learned

In the early morning hours of September 15, 2020, an explosion occurred at the Carnegie Road energy storage site in the UK, followed by a fire that consumed one of three energy storage enclosures. This report conveys the lessons learned from the failure event, including aspects of emergency response, root cause investigation, and the redesign and rebuild process. The document conveys the general information about the failure event and the subsequent process to educate the industry and facilitate the development of best practices. The report highlights the need for clear communication around design features and failure event details, including the development of a post-incident plan.