Fire breaks out at Gunwi battery storage system in South Korea
EIR-0661Provisional entry. Published from first reports. This entry is rechecked automatically and updated when more sources appear. No further update is scheduled; the entry stays provisional until new information is published.
On 29 September 2019, a fire occurred at a battery energy storage system in Gunwi, South Korea. The system, rated at 1.5 MWh and used for solar integration, was discharging at the time of the incident. The system used NMC cells manufactured by LG Chem and was approximately 1.8 years old at the time of the failure. According to the EPRI BESS Failure Incident Database, the fire resulted in damage to approximately 1.0% of the installed capacity. No further details on injuries, evacuation or emergency response were reported in the available source.
The source does not state a confirmed root cause. The system used nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion cells supplied by LG Chem and was in solar integration service at the time of the fire.
- Battery chemistry and cell supplier history should be considered when assessing fire risk for solar-integrated storage systems.
- Systems in active discharge cycles warrant continuous thermal monitoring to catch early signs of thermal runaway.
- Incident databases such as EPRI's BESS Failure Incident Database provide valuable comparative data for operators assessing fleet-wide risk exposure.
EPRI
Published 2026-09-11. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.