Fire in a battery container at a grid-connected storage site, UK

In September 2020 a grid-connected battery energy storage site in the UK experienced a fire that originated in one of the battery containers. Local fire and rescue services attended. The occurrence is referred to in publicly available UK government research material on battery storage health and safety. The extent of damage, the duration of the response and any injuries are not set out in the public sources reviewed, and no public investigation report has been identified.

Public sources state only that the installation dated from an early generation of UK grid-scale battery storage, predating the more developed guidance framework that followed. Detailed cause analysis is understood to sit in investigation material that has not been publicly released. No contributing factor is asserted here beyond what the public record states.

1. Engage the local fire and rescue service during siting and design, and agree access routes, water supply, isolation points and a tactical response plan before energisation.
2. Confirm and record how duties under existing health and safety legislation are met for grid-scale storage, including general health and safety at work duties, dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres, electricity at work, and construction design and management duties.
3. Review installations commissioned before current good practice guidance against that guidance, and document gaps and any remedial actions with target dates.
4. Treat a single container as a credible fire scenario in the emergency plan, covering isolation, separation from adjacent containers, and information for responders on battery chemistry and stored energy.
5. Share incident and near miss learning through industry groups so that operators of similar early-generation assets can act on it.