Residential energy storage fire in Germany, supplier Senec remotely shuts down the battery energy storage system

　　Lithium-ion batteries have become the main energy storage technology in the market because of cost and performance, and we can easily spot this trend from the growing market for lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. However, there is a problem with the lithium battery energy storage system that we cannot ignore, that is, the lithium battery does have safety risks.

　　One of the biggest problems with lithium-ion batteries is thermal runaway, which can lead to fire or even explosion if one cell in a lithium-ion battery pack overheats and causes a chain reaction of other cells. SES Power believes that many factors may cause the battery to overheat. We should only care about the lithium battery itself, and also consider the actual situation and supporting facilities around the lithium battery. At the same time, preventing these failures from escalating is the key to ensuring the safety of battery energy storage. A recent battery storage system in Germany justifies our point.

　　On March 3, the German fire department reported an explosion in an apartment building in southern Germany. The reason was that the battery energy storage system installed in the basement exploded due to a technical defect, followed by a fire in the basement, and the shock wave even pushed several doors and windows outwards. Pushed away and overturned the entire roof structure.

　　(Firefighters took the battery out of the building and caught fire again)

　　A fire department electrician pulled a fuse in the house and removed the battery storage system. Five people wearing respirators took the battery storage device out of the basement and put it into vats of water to cool. Fortunately, no one was in the building when it exploded, so no one was injured. The house is now uninhabitable.

　　(After extinguishing the fire, the battery was put into a bucket of water to cool down)

　　On March 10, German battery energy storage system supplier SENEC admitted that the products involved originated from the company and responded to the explosion. SENEC announced to all users on its Facebook that it has remotely shut down all its home energy storage systems, including three products: SENEC.Home V3 hybrid, Senec.Home V3 Hybrid Duo, and Senec.Home V2.1.

　　SENEC said in the notice: The cause of the incident has not been identified, there is currently no evidence that the battery was the cause of the explosion, and there is no indication of any technical problems with the energy storage system, and the shutdown of the energy storage system is purely a "precautionary measure". According to Senec, even though the energy storage system is remotely shut down, the PV inverters are still active and self-operating, so solar power is possible. Senec also said that the only thing that doesn't happen in standby mode is that battery energy isn't stored and released because it's isolated from the current.

　　SENEC promised to provide specific information on the restart as soon as a clearer understanding of the facts leading to the deflagration became available.

　　According to data, by the end of 2020, the total domestic battery energy storage capacity in Germany reached 2.3GWh, and the average size of battery systems installed in households also increased from 8kWh in 2019 to 8.5kWh in 2020. The issue of energy storage safety has been directly related to the safety of residents' personal and property safety.

　　According to the SENEC official website, the SENEC battery energy storage products use "Samsung SDI high power density maintenance-free lithium batteries". The product introduction shows that the SENEC.Home V3 hybrid energy storage capacity has two specifications of 4.5 kWh and 9 kWh.

　　Accidents have occurred, and it is the right choice to carefully analyze the cause and update preventive measures. As a manufacturer of customized lithium batteries for nearly 20 years, SES Power attaches great importance to the safety of products, and we even put safety first in all performances. In order to achieve a balance between high safety, performance and price, we use square aluminum-shell lithium iron phosphate batteries from famous lithium battery manufacturers EVE, CATL, BYD to make our energy storage products, such as 12V100Ah, 24V100Ah, 36V100Ah, 48V100Ah, home storage Can HESS (3KW), and we also use high-precision BMS to achieve three-layer security control. All of these are for security services.

　　Of course, performance and price have always been difficult to balance, but as can be seen from the Senec accident, when things get out of hand, the cost is far greater than the initial investment.