Electric energy storage project safety

Electrical energy storage (EES) systems - Part 5-3. Safety requirements for electrochemical based EES systems considering initially non-anticipated modifications, partial replacement, changing application, relocation and loading reused battery.

Since the publication of the first Energy Storage Safety Strategic Plan in 2014, there have been introductions of new technologies, new use cases, and new codes, standards, regulations, and testing methods. Additionally, failures in deployed energy storage systems (ESS) have led to new emergency response best practices.

This work describes an improved risk assessment approach for analyzing safety designs in the battery energy storage system incorporated in large-scale solar to improve accident prevention and mitigation, via incorporating probabilistic event tree and systems theoretic analysis. The causal factors and mitigation measures are presented.

Despite widely known hazards and safety design of grid-scale battery energy storage systems, there is a lack of established risk management schemes and models as compared to the chemical, aviation, nuclear and the petroleum industry.

Energy storage safety gaps identified in 2014 and 2023. Several gap areas were identified for validated safety and reliability, with an emphasis on Li-ion system design and operation but a recognition that significant research is needed to identify the risks of emerging technologies.

Any failure of an energy storage system poses the potential for significant financial loss. At the utility scale, ESSs are most often multi-megawatt-sized systems that consist of thousands or millions of individual Li-ion battery cells.