Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with Joe DeBellis, Global Head of Clean Energy at Firetrace International, about the company’s latest report detailing public support for battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Fire safety continues to be a major concern in the BESS industry. Notable battery fire incidents, particularly those affecting residential areas or gaining widespread attention, significantly shape public perception.
Recently, ESN Premium spoke with Stephen Cummings, Director of Engineering at Honeywell Building Automation and Alejandro Schnakofsky, CTO of Prevalon, on this topic.
A key point shared by Honeywell and Prevalon in that interview was that the BESS industry has to do a better job of representing the safety of BESS projects to the public.
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Cummings added, “It’s crucial the industry takes a proactive stance in both communication and standard setting. That means engaging early with local stakeholders, explaining the safety measures in place and pushing for modern codes and standards that reflect today’s technologies. We have to go beyond the minimum compliance thresholds.”
In April, Brian Cashion, Director of Engineering at Firetrace, wrote a guest blog for Energy-Storage.news, discussing how community opposition has the greatest potential to hinder the BESS sector’s growth.
“At a broader level, local communities are often unaware of the significant benefits that BESS sites can create, including lower electricity bills, cleaner air and more reliable power. Many local citizens, understandably, don’t want large infrastructure projects near their homes, fearing they could impact property prices and the aesthetics of the local area,” Cashion wrote.
Firetrace’s global head of clean energy, Joe DeBellis, expands on these ideas through the lens of the company’s new report and survey.
Firetrace International manufactures fire detection and suppression systems for various sectors, but with a particular focus on the renewables industry.
‘Unlocking Support for BESS’
The report, ‘Unlocking Support for BESS: How to boost public support for battery energy storage systems’, details the results of a survey of 4,000 people across the entire US, gauging awareness and attitudes toward BESS projects.
DeBellis says, “We found through the survey that actually, 71% of Americans support energy storage projects in their local community. For us, this was a pretty surprising result, just because you see a lot of the attention-grabbing headlines in the news about energy storage.”
He continues, “We found that only 29% of the Americans that were polled oppose energy storage, and that’s overwhelmingly the minority there, but that minority is very vocal about their concerns.”
This vocal minority of Americans opposed to energy storage can significantly impact project development.
DeBellis points out, “We’ve actually seen that through that 29% – various projects over the last few years. I believe there were upwards of nine separate projects that were rejected or delayed in the last year alone, solely due to safety concerns. That’s a lot coming from the vocal minority there that has concerns.”
In July, ESN Premium reported that Marion County in Oregon enacted a moratorium on utility-scale battery storage, following zoning law amendments approved by the Board of Directors (BoD) in June.
A similar situation was reported in June, when renewables developer Prospect14’s hybrid storage project application was reviewed and rejected by town authorities in Chino Valley, Arizona.
In these instances and others like it, fire was brought up as a major concern of residents located near BESS projects.
DeBellis notes of this common concern, “From that survey as well, we saw that 47% of the folks said that they’re going to be more comfortable with a battery energy storage site if they had a clear understanding of safety measures as well. That’s something that can be addressed very early on, not just when the public remarks that, ‘Hey, we’re a little bit concerned.’”
Providing BESS education
Effectively communicating the safety measures could go a long way in building trust with the public, because, as DeBellis highlights, about the 29% of Americans opposed to energy storage identified in the survey:
“Of that 29%, really half of that – so 52% of the folks that oppose energy storage – actually haven’t encountered information about battery energy storage at all. So, the way that we interpret that is a lack of information. It’s not necessarily that they’re truly concerned with the technology. It’s just they haven’t been educated enough.”
Kevin Smith, CEO of developer-operator Arevon Energy, also noted the importance of providing education and pushing back against BESS misinformation in a July interview with ESN Premium.
“If you’re not in the community from the beginning, a lot of misinformation starts circulating. People end up creating Facebook pages with all kinds of inaccurate information. That’s why it’s really important that we get in early and make sure residents have the right information.”
Smith continued, “Obviously, people are going to look online and find other perspectives, but we want to ensure they have accurate information from us so they can weigh that against whatever else they encounter.”
This task becomes increasingly difficult when, as seen recently, government officials parrot incorrect information about BESS safety.
In July, Josh F.W. Cook, the Administrator of the US EPA Pacific Southwest Region, addressed BESS fire incidents after the agency reached a settlement with IPP LS Power to oversee cleanup following a lithium-ion battery fire at the Gateway energy storage site.
Cook said, “I am alarmed by the incidents and impacts of utility-grade battery fires on first responders, specifically the professional firefighters who are exposed to horrible, toxic conditions when batteries catch fire. This settlement action is a step in the right direction, but the broader battery storage fire issue requires additional attention and EPA enforcement.”
While fire incidents involving BESS are serious, they are relatively infrequent, and the occurrence of failure incidents is decreasing. There appears to have been one incident to date in which firefighters in the US have been seriously hurt in a BESS fire incident. In 2019, at the 2.16MWh McMicken facility in Surprise, Arizona, members of a fire crew suffered injuries when an external door to an enclosure blew open while they were investigating.
The EPA did issue BESS safety guidance in August, which noted, “Since 2020, BESS failure incidents have decreased, but some recent fires have gained attention in the media.”
In the Firetrace report, DeBellis highlights what could be a crucial piece of info in helping developers gain support for BESS projects.
He says, “Roughly 70% of citizens said that if these energy storage sites created benefits, like cheaper electricity bills, they would be in favour of them.”
DeBellis continues, “68% wanted reliable power, two-thirds of folks highlighted local jobs and economic benefits as important factors to support.”
The company has also provided this information to the public in many instances, to help build community support and education around BESS.
“The responsibility for (Firetrace and the BESS industry) is to educate the community, educate the public, on technologies, different safety measures that can be done. I think that’s very important as technologies continue to evolve.”
DeBellis says, “It’s important to ask, ‘How do we get out ahead of some of these hurdles and navigate rough waters with some of these projects going up?’”
A similar sentiment was shared during the recent Battery Asset Management Summit UK & Ireland, where a panel of BESS owner-operators, investors, and technical services firms concurred that lithium-ion BESS is generally a safe technology in a discussion about safety strategies, technologies and best practice. However, moderator Mike Ryan, the commercial director at developer Constantine Energy Storage, highlighted that public perception frequently contradicts this view.
The BESS industry is constantly working to improve fire safety measures and communicate the safety of BESS.
In September, the US National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) released the latest version of its key safety standard for battery storage, NFPA 855.
This standard, titled NFPA 855: Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems (ESS), is updated every three years and sets minimum requirements for installing energy storage systems across residential, commercial, industrial (C&I), and utility scales.
The standards are adopted by local authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), various US states, and are often referenced by stakeholders such as financiers and insurers.
In an article for PV Tech Power (Vol.43), Drew Bandhauer, a BESS engineer at Leeward Renewable Energy, stated that NFPA 855 is “the primary fire standard guiding BESS site design and installation, supported by critical sub-chapters, including NFPA 68, NFPA 69, and NFPA 72.”
In April, the American Clean Power Association (ACP), a group representing clean energy industry interests, published Battery Energy Storage: Blueprint for Safety, a safety framework guide for BESS. This was based on an evaluation by fire protection engineering expert group Fire and Risk Alliance, which examined historical data and research on fire incidents in the US over the past decade.
Both ACP and Fire and Risk Alliance stated that their assessment results did not suggest any risks to public health or neighbouring communities stemming from the studied fire incidents.