How can the industry improve battery and storage fire safety? - part 1
Interchange Recharged
Wood Mackenzie
4.8 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2024
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Exploring fire risk mitigation in the face of lithium-ion challenges.
Battery and energy storage-related fires are still relatively rare, but when they do occur, they are challenging to manage due to the high energy density of lithium-ion batteries. So how is the industry working to mitigate these risks? To find out, we are joined by Kelly Sarber, CEO of Strategic Management and Vice Chair of NY-BEST, a battery industry trade group in New York. Kelly advocates for educating communities with planned energy storage projects, especially around risk management. A recent survey revealed that 42% of these communities expressed safety concerns, primarily due to fears of fires. The conversation emphasises the importance of involving local communities and first responders early in the planning process to build trust and transparency.
Lithium-ion battery fires can be particularly difficult to suppress due to the risk of thermal runaway, which can cause the fire to reignite even after being extinguished. Anthony Natale, Director of Risk at the Fire & Risk Alliance, works on identifying and managing risks in utility and battery storage. Anthony and Kelly discuss the complexities of controlling these fires and stress the need for better containment and isolation strategies during incidents. They also explore necessary design changes in battery energy storage systems (BESS), such as direct injection of suppression agents, to improve fire response.
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Transcript
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| 1:19.8 | Welcome back to another episode of the interchange recharged. Demand for lithium ion batteries |
| 1:25.0 | is set to increase 17-fold by 2030. So naturally, battery safety has emerged as a key issue. |
| 1:30.3 | If batteries are going to be everywhere, we need them to be safe. |
| 1:37.3 | Incidents of thermal runaway where batteries overheat and release toxic gases |
| 1:43.3 | pose significant challenges in fire suppression |
| 1:45.8 | and containment. One of the biggest hurdles in energy storage safety is managing fires caused |
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