As of 9 November 2026, the Energy Incident Register records 149 battery storage incidents worldwide in 19 countries, 28 of them in 2026.
Counted from the live register.
Every battery energy storage (BESS) fire, explosion and failure in public reporting, each with its sources. Free to read. Lending to, insuring or investing in battery storage? Read Financing battery storage: what the incident record shows.
Counts are of entries in published reporting, not rates. The register is new and has been filling in its archive, so a rise across years measures the register before it measures the world.
149 entries so far, 69 since 2024. Confirm your email and the full list arrives as a spreadsheet (CSV). One email when a new incident is reported, at most two a day, plus a Monday digest. Free, no account needed, unsubscribe in one click.
We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.
Newest incident first. Search them, or narrow them by country, year or severity. Each entry is free to read, with what happened and its sources; the record behind it adds the cause where it is established, the part that failed, the downtime and the loss.
An alarm was raised for a fire in a basement in Alghero, Italy, and a whole building was evacuated. Firefighters arrived and found that a battery pack of the building's solar photovoltaic system had burned, producing smoke and an acrid smell. The duty officer...
A fire involving an energy storage system at a single-family house in Mchy, Poland, was reported by PortalSremski.pl on 17 October 2026. The report's headline identifies the fire as involving an energy storage unit at a detached home. The feed summary carries...
On 15 September 2026, at about 20:30, a basement fire was reported at a house in Mank, in the district of Melk, Austria. The object involved was the energy storage of a photovoltaic installation, with a reported capacity of about 27 kWh and about 4,000...
The record behind each entry: the manufacturer, integrator and operator, root cause, failure mode, downtime, losses and every source.
On Sunday morning before 9am, the fire service received a report of a fire at a property near Wyspiańskiego street, at the main junction in Kłodnica. Fire was reported in a room containing devices used to store energy, and it produced heavy smoke. Several...
A fire was reported at an energy storage facility in Nowe Bystre, Poland, and firefighters were reported to have attended. The extent of damage, any injuries and the cause have not been reported.
A fire broke out at around 6:25am on 21 September 2026 in an outdoor container housing an energy storage system (ESS) at the KEPCO Power ICT Daejeon Center in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea. The ESS is located on the premises of KEPCO's Electric Power...
A fire broke out at a battery energy storage facility in Stâlpu, Buzau County, Romania, late in the evening, prompting an overnight response by fire and rescue crews from three separate regional brigades. Specialist firefighting resources were deployed,...
A fire broke out at a lithium-ion battery energy storage system housed in four shipping containers in Bautzen, Germany, in July 2026. The site had a stated capacity of 1.5 MW. Firefighters could not directly extinguish the fire due to the characteristics of...
Firefighters from Folsom Fire Department, El Dorado Hills Fire Department and Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to a structure fire on the 100 block of Loughridge Way in Folsom. Crews found heavy smoke inside the residence and traced the fire to...
Emergency services were called to the Battery Box battery energy storage system on Pinhoe Road, Exeter, Devon, after smoke was seen coming from the unit. The system had been recently installed on leased land and connects to the electricity grid to store...
A fire broke out on 5 June in a wooden shed at a single-family home in Bentwisch, near Rostock, Germany. A battery energy storage system installed at the property had overheated before fire crews arrived. While firefighters were working to extinguish the...
At 05:21 on Friday 1 May 2026, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to a fire involving a battery storage container at the Rufford Colliery battery energy storage system (BESS) on Colliery Lane, Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. The...
On Monday evening at the Terra-Gen Energy Storage System in Valley Center, the emergency management system detected a smoke alarm in one battery storage unit. The Valley Center Fire Department and the San Diego County Hazardous Materials Division responded...
A cable short-circuited at the Caballero battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in Nipomo, California, shortly after 11 a.m. on a Monday morning, triggering an automatic safety shutdown that took the facility offline. Firefighters, including CAL FIRE,...
On 9 January 2026, around 4:15pm, an explosion occurred near a transformer at ENGIE's Sierra Battery Storage facility near Chinese Camp in Tuolumne County, California. The Tuolumne County Fire Department initially reported the explosion as involving...
A fire was reported in the early hours at an outdoor lithium-ion battery energy storage unit operated by Tesla that supplies power to a bank of around 20 electric vehicle chargers in the car park of Creekside Marketplace, a shopping centre in San Marcos,...
According to a police and fire service press release reprinted by Presse Augsburg, a battery storage unit for a photovoltaic system caught fire on a Monday evening in Obernzell, Germany, releasing gases described as hazardous to health. The unit was stored in...
A fire broke out in the basement of a single-family house in Mchy, in the Książ Wielkopolski commune of Poland. The fire involved batteries of an energy storage system that the owner had built himself. Fire crews from the Śrem professional fire station and...
According to a regional newspaper report published on 14 October 2026, a battery storage unit in the cellar of a single-family house in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, caught fire and prompted a callout of the local fire brigade. When firefighters arrived, dense...
A short local report says that, on a Wednesday night, firefighters in Mission, Texas, responded to a fire at a battery storage facility. The report does not name the site or the operator. Authorities gave no further details on injuries, the cause, or how much...
| Year of the incident | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 28 | |
| 2025 | 24 | |
| 2024 | 17 | |
| 2023 | 24 | |
| 2022 | 17 | |
| 2021 | 6 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 12 | |
| 2018 | 12 | |
| 2017 | 4 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 |
| Country | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 52 | |
| South Korea | 35 | |
| Germany | 13 | |
| United Kingdom | 9 | |
| Australia | 6 | |
| China | 6 | |
| India | 4 | |
| Poland | 4 | |
| Netherlands | 4 | |
| Taiwan | 3 | |
| Not stated | 2 | |
| France | 2 | |
| Belgium | 2 | |
| Romania | 1 | |
| Austria | 1 | |
| Italy | 1 | |
| South Africa | 1 | |
| Canada | 1 | |
| Japan | 1 | |
| Sweden | 1 |
| What happened | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| Thermal / fire | 127 | |
| Electrical | 12 | |
| Other | 3 | |
| Gas release | 2 | |
| Mechanical | 2 | |
| Near-miss | 1 | |
| Control system | 1 | |
| Commissioning | 1 |
| Stage of life | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| Normal operation | 91 | |
| Not stated | 38 | |
| Commissioning | 18 | |
| End of life | 1 | |
| Maintenance | 1 |
Where the reporting mentions a part, rack or enclosure is mentioned most often: in 49 of the 149 entries, then cell or module (36) and cables and connections (12). In 59 entries the reporting mentions none of these parts. A mention is not a finding of fault.
| Part mentioned | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| Rack or enclosure | 49 | |
| Cell or module | 36 | |
| Cables and connections | 12 | |
| Suppression system | 11 | |
| Inverter or PCS | 6 | |
| Transformer or switchgear | 5 | |
| Controls and management system | 4 | |
| Not stated | 59 |
Component and mode: 43 battery storage records on the register have an approved record with a controlled component and mode, and 31 of those have no mode established in any public source. The component and mode of each record are in the paid record; these are the counts.
| Component | Records | Mode, where established |
|---|---|---|
| Cell or module | 23 | thermal runaway 7, electrical fault 2 |
| Rack or enclosure | 6 | thermal runaway 1 |
| Transformer | 2 | not determined |
| Cable or connection | 1 | electrical fault 1 |
| Inverter or PCS | 1 | electrical fault 1 |
| Switchgear or breaker | 1 | not determined |
| Not stated | 9 | not determined |
Where the reporting mentions a part, rack or enclosure is mentioned most often: in 49 of the 149 entries, then cell or module (36) and cables and connections (12). In 59 entries the reporting mentions none of these parts. A mention is not a finding of fault. Component and mode: 43 battery storage records on the register have an approved record with a controlled component and mode, and 31 of those have no mode established in any public source. Each entry says what its sources established and nothing more.
127 of the 149 battery storage entries are fires or thermal events. 127 thermal / fire, 12 electrical, 3 other, 2 gas release, 2 mechanical, 1 commissioning, 1 control system, 1 near-miss across the whole set. Where a fire service, regulator or operator stated a cause, the entry carries it and says who said it; where none did, the entry says so.
149 entries from 19 countries, 2012 to 2026, 14 of them classed as major. Every entry is written from published reporting with its sources and is free to read.
| Year | Grid-scale entries | Fires | Major |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 18 | 14 | 0 |
| 2025 | 19 | 14 | 1 |
| 2024 | 14 | 13 | 2 |
| 2023 | 22 | 18 | 1 |
| 2022 | 14 | 10 | 1 |
| 2021 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | 12 | 12 | 2 |
| 2018 | 12 | 11 | 0 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2012 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Home and small systems are left out of this table. A rise across years measures the register filling in its archive before it measures the world.
In April 2019 the McMicken Battery Energy Storage System, a small battery energy storage system of approximately 2 MW and 2 MWh installed at a distribution substation near the APS McMicken substation in Surprise, Arizona, and in service since 2017, suffered a thermal runaway event followed by an explosion. The system was owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS) and provided grid services and supported the integration of distributed solar generation. Thermal runaway and explosion at McMicken battery storage site, Surprise, Arizona.
In January 2025, a fire broke out during the afternoon in one building of the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility (Phase 1, MOSS300) in Moss Landing, Monterey County, California, United States, a large grid-scale lithium-ion battery energy storage facility operated and owned by Vistra Energy. The affected phase was housed in a large repurposed building with battery racks arranged throughout a single enclosed space, rather than in the modular containerised units more common at installations of this size. Major fire at Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility, California, multi-day incident.
A fire was reported at the Vistra battery energy storage system facility in Moss Landing, California, on the Tuesday night before the report was published on 20 February 2025. Smoke was seen coming from the previously burned section of the Moss 300 building, which had caught fire on 16 January 2025. Battery storage fire reignites at Vistra's Moss Landing facility.
In September 2022, a fire occurred in a single Tesla Megapack battery enclosure at the Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System in Moss Landing, California, United States, owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). The site held 256 Megapack units. Megapack fire at PG&E Elkhorn Battery, Moss Landing, California.
In May 2024 a thermal event occurred at the Gateway Energy Storage Camino facility, a grid scale lithium ion battery storage site in San Diego, California, United States, involving nearly 15,000 nickel manganese cobalt lithium ion batteries housed in a single building. The fire started in mid May and periodic flare ups continued for around two weeks. Regulatory settlement sets cleanup duties after Gateway Energy Storage fire in San Diego.
In the early hours of 15 September 2020, an explosion occurred at the Orsted battery energy storage system (BESS) on Carnegie Road, Liverpool, before emergency responders arrived. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service received calls reporting a large explosion with smoke and flames near the site. Explosion and prolonged fire at Orsted battery storage site in Liverpool.
In September 2023, a fire occurred in the late afternoon at the Valley Center Energy Storage System in Valley Center, San Diego County, California, operated by Terra-Gen. Fire and sheriff's departments were dispatched, roads in the area were closed, an evacuation order was issued for an area within about a quarter of a mile of the site, and shelter in place advice was given for an area of about half a mile. Battery fire at Valley Center Energy Storage System, California.
A small electrical failure occurred within a single battery module at the Valley Center Battery Storage Project, a recently commissioned lithium-ion battery energy storage facility in Valley Center, San Diego County, California, operated and owned by Terra-Gen, using battery modules manufactured by LG Energy Solution. The fault produced smoke, which triggered the site's fire suppression and detection systems. Battery module fire contained at Valley Center Battery Storage Project, California.
In 2025 a fire broke out in a single containerised battery unit at Thurrock BESS, a large battery energy storage project in East Tilbury, Essex, England, being developed by Statera Energy, that was still under construction and not yet operational. The fire was reported in the late afternoon and the site was evacuated as a precaution. Fire in single battery unit at Thurrock BESS under construction.
EPRI's BESS Failure Incident Database covers grid-scale and commercial and industrial systems only, leaves out home systems and events caused by wildfire, and includes incidents that were not reported publicly. It is the list most engineering papers cite.
This register lists only what is in public reporting, and lists all of it: grid-scale and commercial systems, 23 home and small systems, gas releases, commissioning events and near misses. Each entry has its own page with its sources, and the counts are free to download under CC BY 4.0 (the battery CSV). Where a figure here differs from EPRI's, the difference is in what each list sets out to hold.
EPRI's database is the right place for a failure-rate figure; this page is the right place for what happened at each site, with the sources.
| Reference | Year | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| EIR-0249 | 2026 | Smoke and fire incident at Battery Box, Pinhoe Road, Exeter |
| EIR-0584 | 2026 | Fire in a battery container at Rufford Colliery BESS, Rainworth; owner attributes it to a short circuit in NMC cells |
| EIR-0681 | 2026 | Gas leak at Cockenzie battery storage site under construction |
| EIR-0109 | 2025 | Fire in single battery unit at Thurrock BESS under construction |
| EIR-0459 | 2025 | Domestic fire reported to have prompted a safety warning about solar battery storage |
| EIR-0462 | 2025 | Mini battery storage system ignites garden shed fire in Wickford, Essex |
| EIR-2173 | 2023 | Solar battery smoke prompts fire crew response at Denton home |
| EIR-0638 | 2020 | Explosion and prolonged fire at Orsted battery storage site in Liverpool |
| EIR-0023 | 2018 | Battery storage site commissioned without on site fire water provision, concern raised before any incident |
Type up to eight company names (operators, owners, manufacturers, contractors) and your email address. The brief comes back by email: every published battery storage entry that names them, with its sources, and a plain line where a name has no entries. Free, once, no account.
127 of the 149 battery storage entries on the register are fires or thermal events, counted in public reporting from 2012 to 2026. 126 of the entries are at grid-scale or commercial systems.
Two public ones. EPRI's BESS Failure Incident Database covers grid-scale and commercial systems, including incidents not reported publicly. The Energy Incident Register lists every battery storage incident in public reporting, home systems included, with a page and sources for each, and its counts are free to download.
The register shows 28 battery storage entries dated 2026 so far. A rise across years here measures the register filling in its archive before it measures the world, so the trend is read with that caution.
The register records what happened as the sources state it, not a cause it did not report. By what happened, the entries are most often thermal / fire (127), electrical (12), other (3). The root cause, where a source establishes it, is in the record behind each entry.
14 entries are classed as major. Moss Landing in California (EIR-0010) is the largest site on the list: In January 2025, a fire broke out during the afternoon in one building of the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility (Phase 1, MOSS300) in Moss Landing, Monterey County, California, United States, a large grid-scale lithium-ion battery energy storage facility operated and owned by Vistra Energy. The affected phase was housed in a large repurposed building with battery racks arranged throughout a single enclosed space, rather than in the modular containerised units more common at installations of this size. McMicken in Surprise, Arizona (EIR-0011) injured firefighters: In April 2019 the McMicken Battery Energy Storage System, a small battery energy storage system of approximately 2 MW and 2 MWh installed at a distribution substation near the APS McMicken substation in Surprise, Arizona, and in service since 2017, suffered a thermal runaway event followed by an explosion. The system was owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS) and provided grid services and supported the integration of distributed solar generation.
Public reporting on battery fires rarely names the cell chemistry, the enclosure type or the state of charge, so the register does not claim them. Where a fire service or regulator states one, the entry carries it and says who said it.
If you work on battery safety or standards and want a field added, tell us what it should be. We would rather define it with the industry than alone.
149 entries so far, 69 in the last three years. Confirm your email and the full list arrives as a spreadsheet (CSV): reference, year, country, what failed, what happened and the source for every entry. One email when a new incident is reported, at most two a day, plus a Monday digest. Free, no account needed, unsubscribe in one click.
We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.