Fire and explosion reported at solar-storage BESS in Hadong, South Korea
EIR-0662Provisional 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.
A fire occurred in a battery energy storage system (BESS) at a solar-plus-storage facility in Hadong, South Korea, on 21 October 2019. A nearby resident reported hearing an explosion at the time of the incident. The cause was determined to be a sudden deterioration in the insulation performance of the battery system. The BESS used NMC lithium-ion battery cells supplied by LG Chem and was around 1.3 years old at the time. Damage was estimated at around one percent of the installed capacity. The incident is recorded in the EPRI BESS Failure Incident Database.
Sudden deterioration in insulation performance within the battery system. The battery cells were supplied by LG Chem and used NMC chemistry, installed in an outdoor architecture as part of a solar integration application.
- Insulation resistance should be continuously monitored in outdoor battery storage systems, as degradation can develop gradually before triggering a fault.
- Early warning systems capable of detecting insulation deterioration could help prevent escalation to fire or explosion.
- Battery systems co-located with solar generation require the same rigorous electrical safety monitoring as standalone BESS installations, regardless of relatively young system age.
EPRI
Published 2026-09-11. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.