Energy Storage Fires: Inevitable or Avoidable?

Grid-scale energy storage has become an essential building block of the grid. But high-profile fires have raised serious safety concerns, threatening to hinder deployment and slow the transition to renewable energy. Set against the backdrop of batteries being installed closer to urban areas, more organized community pushback and a tightening regulatory environment in some key states, fire safety must become the priority for the industry. So, what can be done to mitigate fire risks? The session will establish a blueprint to manage fire risk, prioritizing these focus areas and charting a way forward to avoid fires, engage meaningfully with community concerns and instil confidence in regulators. With installed energy storage capacity on track to expand 35-fold by 2030 — while creeping closer to residential areas – it’s critical that future projects learn from the mistakes of the past and effectively manage their fire risks to ensure community and operator safety. Ongoing fires may threaten to undermine the growth of the sector and even cause regulators to freeze deployment. At a crucial period for the energy transition, any interruption to the rollout of storage systems could undermine grid resilience and stability and keep our net-zero goals out of reach.