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Hybrid co-locatedUnited StatesEIR-0125

Battery storage fire at Chaumont Site 1 prompts shelter-in-place order

July 2023Published 7 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantThermal / fireProvisional5 MW
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersMedium confidence
out of service for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordRoot cause hiddenFailed part hiddenAsset hidden years oldThe maker is named in 7 other entries (being named is not a finding of fault)
Where
Town of Lyme, Chaumont, Jefferson County, New York, United States
Operator
Convergent Energy and Power
Owner
NSF Chaumont Site 1
Manufacturer
GE
What
Fire at outdoor battery energy storage system

Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Convergent Energy and Power, NSF Chaumont Site 1

What happened

In 2023 a fire was reported at an outdoor battery energy storage system co-located with a solar photovoltaic array at the Chaumont Site 1 / Tops Markets solar-plus-storage project in the Town of Lyme, Chaumont, Jefferson County, New York, United States, operated and integrated by Convergent Energy and Power and owned by NSF Chaumont Site 1. The storage system, supplied by GE, used nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells and was a small utility-scale installation of single-digit megawatts with a few hours of duration.

Available sources indicate the system had been in service for less than six months, and it is not clear whether the wider project had reached full commercial operation. Local authorities issued a precautionary shelter-in-place order for residents within about one mile of the site while the fire was dealt with. Reported physical damage was limited to part of the installation. No injuries or fatalities were reported in available sources.

Contributing factors

Not reported in available sources. Sources noted only that the system was recently installed, in service for less than six months, with some ambiguity over whether construction and commissioning were fully complete.

Lessons learned

  1. Where a new battery system is in its first months of service, agree in writing which party monitors cell data and who may isolate the unit out of hours.
  2. Emergency plans for storage sites near housing must set trigger conditions and communication routes for shelter-in-place orders in advance.
  3. At co-located solar and storage sites, response plans must cover how to isolate direct current sources that remain live in daylight.

More lessons on detection and monitoring, emergency response and public communication, electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

  • Exact cause of the fire
  • Battery model and cell age
  • Duration of outage and cost of damage
  • Whether the project had reached full commercial operation

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

convergentep.com

Published 2026-09-07. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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Chart to reuse with this story: Hybrid co-located incidents in the United States, by year, free with a credit (PNG).

Hybrid co-located incidents in the United States: 8 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

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