Fire damages battery energy storage system at KEPCO Jeju facility
Sept 2018Published 11 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Basement of KEPCO Jeju headquarters, Yeondong, Jeju City, South Korea
- Operator
- Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)
- What
- Fire in basement energy storage system for solar integration
- Injuries
- None reported
- Response
- KEPCO staff extinguished fire immediately; fire authorities attended
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Korea Electric Power
What happened
At around 4:55am on 14 September 2018, a fire broke out in the basement of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Jeju headquarters, located in Yeondong, Jeju City, South Korea. The basement housed an energy storage system (ESS) used for solar power integration. KEPCO staff extinguished the fire immediately after it was discovered. No injuries were reported. The ESS equipment installed in the basement was damaged in the incident. Fire authorities attended the scene and indicated that the fire appeared to have originated in equipment that converts solar-generated power into electricity, though the exact cause of the fire remained under investigation at the time of reporting.
Contributing factors
Fire authorities suspected the fire originated in ESS equipment that converts solar-generated power into electricity, but the precise cause was still under investigation and not confirmed in the source.
Lessons learned
- An indoor ESS in a basement needs early fire detection and suppression because fire can spread fast in an enclosed space.
- On-site staff should be trained to isolate and fight small ESS fires at once to stop spread before external services arrive.
- Power conversion equipment in solar ESS setups should be checked first in any fire probe as it is a known ignition source.
More lessons on detection and monitoring, spacing, layout and fire spread, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Exact cause of the fire
- ESS equipment model and age
- Downtime after the fire
- Cost of the damage
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-11. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
