Smoke and fire incident at Battery Box, Pinhoe Road, Exeter

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 renewable energy and discharge it at peak demand. The operator, Amp Clean Energy, shut down the batteries in line with standard safety procedures once smoke was observed. The fire and rescue service isolated the unit from a nearby substation, established a cordon, and cooled the affected cabinet using a hose reel. Amp Clean Energy stated the smoke originated from the cabinet housing the connection point to the electricity network, rather than from the battery modules themselves, which it said were unaffected. An investigation into the cause was launched jointly with the network operator. No cause had been confirmed at the time of reporting.

Amp Clean Energy reported that the smoke originated from the grid connection cabinet rather than the battery units. No link to ambient temperature was identified by the operator, though this had not been confirmed. The cause remained under investigation.

1. Grid connection cabinets and point-of-connection equipment should be included in routine thermal and electrical inspection regimes for battery storage sites, not only the battery modules themselves.
2. Rapid isolation from the substation and established cordon procedures allowed the fire service to control the incident safely, underscoring the value of clear site isolation protocols agreed in advance with grid operators.
3. Joint investigations between site operators and network operators can help distinguish battery-related failures from balance-of-plant electrical faults, improving the accuracy of root cause findings and lessons for the wider industry.

News report via Google News