Fire in a battery container at Rufford Colliery BESS, Rainworth; owner attributes it to a short circuit in NMC cells
May 2026Published 9 Sept 2026Updated 22 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- When
- 1 May 2026, fire service called at 05:21
- Where
- Rufford Colliery BESS, Colliery Lane, Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
- Owner
- Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID)
- Size
- 7 MW / 9 MWh
- What
- Fire in one battery storage container
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Gresham House Energy Storage Fund
What happened
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 site is a 7 MW / 9 MWh BESS owned by the Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID), which acquired it in 2018, shortly after it began commercial operation in December 2017.
Crews from Mansfield, Ashfield, Edwinstowe and Clay Cross attended. Gresham House said it worked closely with the emergency services and that the fire was put out "in short order". According to Gresham House, the fire service and Gresham House confirmed there were no injuries and that all site staff were safe and accounted for. Gresham House said that an initial investigation found the cause to be a short circuit of the nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery technology used at the site. Work to augment the site's NMC technology had been due to start on 5 May; Gresham House said it would begin on 18 May.
Contributing factors
Gresham House stated: "Following an initial investigation, we have identified that the cause was due to a short circuit of the NMC technology that this site operates." It said this technology accounts for less than 4.03% of the portfolio, has not been used in any BESS bought by GRID since 2020, and was already being augmented. The cause is the owner's statement after an initial investigation; the source reports no separate finding by the fire service. What triggered the short circuit was not stated.
Lessons learned
- A short circuit in NMC lithium-ion cells can start a fire, so operators should fit detection systems able to isolate strings before thermal runaway spreads.
- Battery management systems must be proven to detect abnormal cell voltage or temperature early, as the trigger for this short circuit was not stated.
- Owners should publish cause findings after a BESS fire, as the owner did here, so other operators can check the same failure mode in their own fleets.
More lessons on detection and monitoring, investigation and fleet-wide checks, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- What triggered the short circuit
- Any fire service investigation finding
- Loss of availability
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-09. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
