Fire at solar-linked battery storage system in Jangsu, South Korea

What happened

A fire broke out at a lithium ion battery energy storage system located in Jangsu, North Jeolla Province, South Korea, on 15 January 2019. The system, which was integrated with a solar generation asset, was in standby mode after completing a charging cycle when the fire started. The battery system had been in service for approximately 0.8 years at the time of the incident. The fire resulted in one reported employee injury.

Damage was recorded as affecting about one percent of the installed capacity. The installation was housed in an indoor system architecture. No further detail on the fire response, cause investigation or site name is available from the source.

Contributing factors

Not reported.

Lessons learned

1. Lithium ion battery systems can ignite in standby after a charge cycle, so operators must keep monitoring and isolation active outside discharge periods.
2. Indoor battery housing can raise risks to nearby staff during thermal events, so enclosed spaces need robust detection and suppression systems.
3. Battery faults can appear within the first year, so early-life monitoring and commissioning checks remain essential for solar-linked storage.

More lessons on detection and monitoring, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Cause of the fire
• Fire response details
• Site name
• Cost of the damage

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

motie.go.kr