The world's largest battery energy storage project is under investigation due to overheating incident

　　The world's largest battery energy storage project, the Moslandin Energy Storage Facility, had a battery overheating incident on September 4, and investigation and evaluation have now begun.

　　On September 4, security monitoring personnel discovered that some lithium-ion battery modules in the first phase of the Moss Landing energy storage system in the 300MW/1,200MWh operating in Monterey County, California, were overheated and the battery temperature exceeded the operating standard. The sprinkler system was also triggered.

　　Vistra Energy, the owner and operator of the energy storage project, generator and retailer, stated that local firefighters have handled it carefully in accordance with Energy's incident response plan and requirements. The company said that the current situation has been brought under control, and no harm to the community and people has been caused.

　　Just a few weeks ago, the second phase of the Moss Landing energy storage facility had just ended. In the second phase of the project, an additional 100MW/400MWh battery energy storage system was deployed on site. The system was deployed in an abandoned natural gas power plant, and a large number of lithium-ion battery packs were installed in the abandoned turbine hall. Vistra Energy said that the site has a large amount of space and site infrastructure, which can make the deployment scale of the Moss Landing energy storage facility eventually reach 1,500MW/6,000MWh.

　　As of September 7th, Vistra Energy and its energy storage project partner battery rack supplier LG Energy Solution and energy storage technology supplier Fluence are still under construction. To conduct the evaluation, external experts were also hired to assist in the investigation.

　　They are collecting relevant information and starting to investigate the cause. Vistra Energy stated that they were assisted by the local fire department, and firefighters also attended the investigation meeting.

　　After assessing the damage to the relevant energy storage system, Vistra Energy stated that it may take some time to complete the investigation, formulate a repair plan, and take all necessary safety precautions to ensure that the risk is minimized.

　　With California’s goal of achieving decarbonization of its power system by 2045, and in order to meet the peak power demand in summer, the state’s public utility companies have signed many agreements, including long-term energy storage systems and solar + energy storage systems.

　　Fire incidents in battery energy storage systems are still relatively rare, but battery energy storage manufacturers and users hope to reduce the risk of using battery energy storage systems. The expert team of energy storage and power equipment safety service provider Energy Safety Response Group (ESRG) pointed out in a report last year that it is very important to develop a fire safety response plan for lithium-ion battery energy storage system projects.

　　In an interview with industry media, Nick Warner, the founder of the Energy Security Response Group (ESRG), said that with the rapid development of the battery energy storage industry, it is expected that hundreds of gigawatts of battery energy storage systems will be deployed in the next 5 to 10 years, so it must be approved the best techniques and measures to prevent similar accidents.

　　Due to overheating issues, LG Energy Solution recently recalled some residential battery storage systems. The company is also the battery supplier of APS’s battery energy storage system in Arizona, which caught fire in April 2019. It caused an explosion and injured many firefighters. An investigation report issued by DNV GL in response to the incident pointed out that the internal failure of a lithium-ion battery caused a thermal runaway, which affected the surrounding batteries and caused a fire.

　　At the end of July this year, one of the largest battery energy storage systems in the world-Australia's 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery caught fire, which is used Tesla's Megapack battery energy storage system.

　　Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate battery is a perfect replacement for lead-acid batteries, and it is the first choice for grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy storage, UPS, data center and other industries.

　　Solar power generation system with lithium battery energy storage system is a very promising clean energy.