Courtesy of NREL
This divide is compounded by a lack of transparency on behalf of developers to fully explain innovations and safety improvements so that AHJs understand the true risk profile of proposed sites. This in turn has led to authorities making important permit decisions without all the necessary information.
BESS technology is considered essential for energy grids to build flexibility and capacity in the energy system when generation from renewable sources is not possible. This is an important step to enable the transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as wind and solar. BESS capacity almost tripled in 2023 (27GwH – 74GwH) and is expected to reach 400GwH by 2030.
The industry has made significant advances in all areas of BESS technology in recent years. With the battery chemistry itself, developers have now largely moved away from Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) to Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cell composition, which has significantly reduced risk of fire due to lower operating temperature and reduced chance of ignition.
Advancements in analytics software have significantly improved how operators maintain the ongoing health and viability of sites, predicting potential points of failure and setting corrective maintenance schedules. Aerosol-based fire suppression technology has evolved to protect components within the BESS container including battery racks, while clean agent-based fire suppression remains the optimal technology to protect electrical cabinets and control systems, the latter being the leading source of fires according to EPRI’s Failure Incident Database.
On the other side of the discussion, regulation for BESS technology and planning differs from country to country, and in the case of the U.S. it can vary from state to state and even county to county. This adds a layer of complexity for developers trying to achieve planning permission.
This in part has been caused by slow-moving central regulation, the process of developing codes and standards for new BESS technology can take many years to come to fruition. At which point, developers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) may have innovated beyond the scope or minimum requirements of new regulation.
This growing divide is putting pressure on AHJs and local fire-services who must now understand and manage the risk of proposed sites without up-to-date guidance from regulators. This process leads to decentralized governance. There has been growing number of incidents where local authorities have delayed (City of Escondido, San Diego County, U.S.) and even denied BESS sites outright (Katy City, Texas, U.S. and Renfrewshire, Glasgow, U.K.), bowing to community pressure and safety concerns over the probability of fires.
Brian Cashion, Head of Engineering at Firetrace commented, “Ultimately, the industry is in a much better place today than ever before, with safer technology coming to market all the time to manage and mitigate the risk of fire. This has been proved by research, showing the risk profile of BESS is reducing more with every GW installed. However, public perception of BESS following several well publicized fires is fostering an element of fear and causing community opposition across the globe which cannot continue.”
According to Firetrace, the industry must respond in two ways.
1. Regulators must find a way to catch up with the latest technology and provide local authorities with clear guidelines to make informed decisions. Regulators would also benefit from global collaboration and engagement from international trade associations to coordinate codes and standards more broadly across the industry, state lines in the case of the U.S., and international borders in other parts of the world.
2. The fast-innovating industry must find ways to share more detailed information on new technology and reasonable supporting proof points on changing risk profiles. Most important in this category is the sharing Root Cause Analysis (RCA) data following a fire or thermal incident. It is essential the industry continues to learn important lessons, and those responsible for risk and safety of BESS have access to this information to mitigate risk and existing and future sites.
Cashion continued, “In short, developers should continue to innovate in the current direction, creating more efficient and safer BESS technology. Regulators should support this progress with an ‘innovation-friendly’ framework, which will in turn help local authorities issue permits with confidence that risk has been fully considered and mitigated. Coming together in this way, with safety as the main priority, removes fear and ensures progress. Fundamentally, BESS technology is too important to let fear impact decisions made in this process. The success of the battery energy storage is critical to the energy transition and to reach global net zero goals."
