Battery Energy Storage System Safety: How to Avoid the Worst Case Scenario

Battery Energy Storage System Safety

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Introduction

Energy storage systems are crucial for decarbonizing our economies, and batteries are playing a significant role in enabling energy acquired from intermittent renewable sources to be stored and to stabilize the grid. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used due to their high potential for providing efficient energy storage and environmental sustainability, but unfortunately, the fast-growing LIB market has seen a number of battery fires. With the expansion of grid scale battery deployment, these incidents are likely to increase further in the years to come.

Safety incidents result in severe economic issues for stakeholders involved in BESS projects, in some cases complete loss of the asset, and significantly damaging the reputation of the companies involved. Consequently, increasing attention is being paid to LIB safety issues. Companies are developing safety strategies, and governments are introducing new regulations to ensure the safety of LIBs.

There are multiple factors involved in ensuring the safe operation of batteries. Their safety is determined by the battery chemistry, operating environment, and the amount of strain the battery can tolerate. The internal failure of a LIB is ultimately caused by electrochemical system instability. Therefore, anticipating the electrochemical reactions in LIBs is fundamental in assessing battery safety. Voltage, temperature and current are the major stress factors controlling the battery reactions. Battery analytics software is vital for assessing and predicting these key indicators at an early stage.

This whitepaper summarizes the many aspects of LIB safety and discusses how certain challenges can be mitigated with battery analytics.