BESS Failure Event Database

This is a public resource for documenting publicly-available data on battery energy storage failure events from around the world. All information included is available in the linked public documents. If there is a public event that is not included in the BESS Fire Event Database, please email the relevant information and link to supporting info to our Storage Safety email.

If you would like to be notified when a new event is added to this database or are interested in other EPRI energy storage safety research resources and opportunities please reach out to our Storage Safety email.

Stationary Energy Storage Failure Events

This table tracks utility and C&I scale energy storage failure events with publicly available information.

Note: Missing values in this table reflect unknowns.

Location	Energy (MWh)	Power (MW)	Application	Installation	Event Date	System Age (yr)	State During Accident	Source
Taiwan, Lanyu		1.1		Power Plant	28 December 2023		Operational	United Daily News
USA, ID, Melba	8	2	Distribution Resource	Substation	2 October 2023	0	Pre-commissioning	KTVB7
France, Martinique, Saint-Esprit			Solar Integration	Farm	29 September 2023		Operational	DayFR Euro
Australia, Queensland, Bouldercombe	100	50		Substation	26 September 2023	0.1	Operational	ABC News
US, CA, Valley Center	560	140		Rural	18 September 2023	1.6	Operational	Valley Road Runner
France, Saucats, Barban	98	105		Rural	22 August 2023	0	Pre-commissioning	dayFREuro
China, Xiangzhou District, Zuhai City				Warehouse	19 August 2023			OFweek
US, NY, Chaumont	15	5	Solar Integration	Rural	27 July 2023	0.4	Operational	7 News WWNYTV
Taiwan, Taichung City, Longjing District					4 July 2023			United Daily News
US, NY, Warwick	17.9	4	Energy Shifting, Backup	Substation	27 June 2023	0.1	Operational	Convergent Energy and Power
US, NY, Warwick	36	8	Energy Shifting, Backup	Substation	26 June 2023	0.1	Operational	Convergent Energy and Power
US, NY, East Hampton	40	5	Resiliency, Utility Peak Reduction	Substation	31 May 2023	4.8	Operational	East Hampton Star
Sweden, Gothenburg, Vastra Frolunda	0.9			Indoor	26 April 2023	0	Pre-commissioning	Battery Energy Storage Container Fire Report (English translation)
France, Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans				Indoor, Datacenter	28 March 2023			DCD
US, PA, Millvale			Solar Integration	Urban	30 January 2023		Operational	WTAE
South Korea, Jeollanam-do, Yeongam-gun, Geumjeong-myeon	251		Solar Integration	Rural	27 December 2022	1.8	Operational	E2News.com
South Korea, Jeollanam-do, Damyang-gun, Mujeong-myeon, Deokgok-ri	9.1	2.5	Solar Integration	Rural	8 December 2022	5.5	Operational	E2News.com
China, Hainan	50	25	Solar Integration		20 October 2022	0	Commissioning	china5e.com
South Korea, Pangyo				Datacenter	15 October 2022			DCD
US, CA, Moss Landing	730	182.5	Energy Shifting, Ancillary Services	Substation	20 September 2022	0.5	Operational	KSBW News
South Korea, Incheon		103	Energy Shifting	Factory	6 September 2022		Operational	Teller Report
USA, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park			Solar Integration	Indoor	6 September 2022			National Park Service
US, CA, Rio Dell			Solar Integration / Backup	Rural	3 August 2022	4	Operational	KRCR
South Korea, Jangseong-gun			Solar Integration		2 May 2022			Newspim
US, AZ, Chandler	40	10		Substation	18 April 2022	3	Operational	AZ Central
US, CA, Valley Center	560	140		Rural	5 April 2022	0.2	Operational	Valley Road Runner
Taiwan, Taichung City, Longjing District	1	1	Solar Integration	Power Plant	30 March 2022	2	Operational	Economic Daily
US, CA, Moss Landing	400	100	Solar Integration	Power Plant	13 February 2022	1	Operational	KSBW News
South Korea, Gunwi-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do	1.5	0.45	Solar integration	Rural	17 January 2022	3	Operation. Fully charged	E2News
South Korea, Nam-gu, Ulsan	50	10	Peak Load Reduction	Urban	12 January 2022	2	Operational	E2News
US, CA, Moss Landing	1,200	300	Solar Integration	Power Plant	4 September 2021	0.8		Vistra
Australia, Victoria, Geelong	450	300	Grid Stability	Rural	30 July 2021	0	Construction, Commissioning	ABC News
Australia, Victoria, Moorabool	450	300	Grid Stability	Rural	30 July 2021	0	Construction, Commissioning	Investigation Report
US, IL, LaSalle	36	36	Solar and Wind Integration, Frequency Regulation	Rural	19 July 2021	1.6		WSPY
Germany, Neuhardenberg	5	5	Solar Integration and Frequency Regulation	Indoor/Hangar	18 July 2021	5		RBB 24 (Translated)
Boulouparis, New Caledonia, France			Solar Integration	Rural	13 July 2021			FranceTVInfo.fr
France, New Caledonia, Boulouparis			Solar Integration	Rural	13 July 2021			La 1ere (Translated)
US, MI, Standish			Demand Charge Mgmt	Substation	19 April 2021			WSGW
China, Beijing	25		Solar Integration	Commercial	16 April 2021	2	Construction, Commissioning	Investigation Report (English Translation)
Australia, Bohle Plains	8	4	VPP		7 April 2021	1.2	Commissioning	Queensland Government
South Korea, Hongseong			Solar Integration		6 April 2021	3		Business Korea
Gogyeong-myeon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea	4		Solar Integration		11 March 2021			Newspim
France, Ariege, Perles-et-Castelet	0.5	0.5	Hybrid Supercacitor plus Storage System	Substation	1 December 2020	0	Commissioning, testing	Investigation Report (English Translation)
UK, Liverpool	10	20	Frequency Regulation		15 September 2020	1.5		Investigation Report
South Korea, Haenam			Solar Integration	Field	27 May 2020	2.2		E2 News (Translated)
Australia, Brisbane					17 March 2020	6.7		Brisbane Times
South Korea, Gimhae	2.2		Solar Integration		27 October 2019	1.5	Charged, inactive	Social construction of fire accidents in battery energy storage systems in Korea
South Korea, Hadong	1.3		Solar Integration	Mountains	21 October 2019	1.2	Charged, inactive	Social construction of fire accidents in battery energy storage systems in Korea
South Korea, Gunwi	1.5		Solar Integration	Mountains	29 September 2019	1.8	Discharging	Social construction of fire accidents in battery energy storage systems in Korea
South Korea, Pyeongchang	21		Wind Integration	Mountains	24 September 2019	2.7	Charged, inactive	Social construction of fire accidents in battery energy storage systems in Korea
... further results

Figure 1. A breakdown of the stationary energy storage failure events from the above table.

Other Energy Storage Failure Events

This table tracks other energy storage failure events for scenarios that do not fit the criteria of the table above. This could include energy storage failures in settings like electric transportation, recycling, manufacturing, etc.

Note: Missing values in this table reflect unknowns.

Location	Setting	Capacity (MWh)	Capacity (MW)	Operator / Integrator	Event Date	System Age (yr)	State During Accident	Description	Source
Scotland, Kilwinning	Recycling				8 April 2024			A fire broke out at the Fenix battery recycling plant. The cause of fire is under investigation.	BBC
Australia, Maryborough	On highway during transport				22 March 2024		In transit	A semi-trailer truck carrying lithium ion batteries was involved in a multi-vehicle highway crash, resulting in a fire. The level of contribution from the batteries to the fire is unknown.	ABC News
France, Viviez	Recycling			SNAM	17 February 2024		Storage	A fire broke out in a warehouse owned by battery recycling group SNAM. The warehouse stored 900 metric tons of lithium ion batteries. The cause of the fire is unknown.	Reuters
US, AK, Dutch Harbor	Maritime				29 December 2023		In transit	The ship was transporting lithium-ion batteries from Vietnam to San Diego. The fire began in a hold, which was pumped with carbon dioxide and sealed. The cause of the fire is unknown.	AP News
Germany, Wurzburg	Underground Parking Garage				5 November 2023			A metal lattice box filled with batteries released smoke into the underground parking garage. Fire fighters extinguished the fire in three hours and used a high pressure fan to clear the smoke.	Fireworld
Netherlands, Ameland	Maritime			Multiple	26 July 2023		Storage	A cargo ship fire burned for over a week. The crew was evacuated, after 1 death, and the ship was monitored for potential capsizing that could have damaged the nearby UNESCO World Heritage - listed wildlife habitat. The ship was carrying over 3700 new vehicles, with ~500 reported to be EVs. The cause of the fire is unknown.	AP
France, Rouen	Warehouse				16 January 2023		Storage	A fire spread through a warehouse containing thousands of lithium ion batteries.	the deep dive
US, CA, Baker	Electric Vehicle Charging Station			Tesla	1 January 2023		Operational	This Megapack on a trailersystem is used to boost charging infrastructure at busy supercharger stations during peak times.	Electrek
Germany, Kaufbeuren	Battery test laboratory				3 November 2022		Testing	A battery exploded while undertest at an Intertek battery testing facility.	Allgau Newspaper
US, CA, Palo Alto	EV Dealership			Tesla	7 August 2022		Storage	Failure within a stack of uninstalled EV batteries led to thermal runaway and damage to all batteries and some nearby property.	Palo Alto Fire Dept.
Netherlands, Amsterdam	Maritime	0.7		EST-Floattech	25 July 2022	1	In transit / operation	Battery fire on Diesel-Electric hybrid river boat	The Maritime Executive
US, WI, Milwaukee	Hospital parking garage				21 June 2022		recycling bin	Container holding recycled batteries exploded in parking garage	WISN
Sweden, Karlskoga	Warehouse				10 April 2022			A fire outside of a warehouse where a large number of batteries were being stored.	SVT Nyheter
South Korea, North Chungcheong, Cheongju	Manufacturing			EcoPro BM	21 January 2022		Operational Manufacturing Facility		Korea JoongAng Daily
China, Wuhan	On highway during transport				12 January 2022		during transportation		Jimu News
US, IL, Morris	Warehouse			Superior Battery Inc.	2 July 2021				ABC
US, NM, Albuquerque	Recycling			Friedman Recycling	16 March 2021				KOB
Norway, Oslo Fjord	Maritime	0.8		Corvus Energy	11 March 2021	2			Corvus Energy
China, Yunnan, Qujing	Manufacturing			CATL	27 January 2021				ESP
China, Hunan	Recycling			CATL, Brunp Recycling	7 January 2021				ESP
Norway, Sydnes	Maritime	2		Corvus Energy	10 October 2019	0.5			CFPA Europe
US, OR, Powin	New product testing			Powin HQ	11 April 2019				The Oregonian