A report released Friday by a clean-energy trade group spells out best practices for safe use of large-scale battery energy storage systems following a major fire at a battery facility early this year.
Battery energy storage is a fast-growing segment of the nation’s electricity system, allowing power utilities to make better use of intermittent renewable energy from wind and solar power and to improve grid resilience.
The January fire at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants, the Vistra Energy lithium battery plant in northern California, highlighted safety concerns. Lithium burns at very high heat, and a fire can release a range of heavy metals and other chemicals of concern. The blaze smoldered for days, and toxic smoke forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people.
The inside of the AES Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System, which provides stored renewable energy to supply electricity during peak demand periods, in Long Beach, California.
The inside of the AES Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System, which provides stored renewable energy to supply electricity during peak demand periods, in Long Beach, California.
Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
“Incidents like that reinforce the critical nature of applying and enforcing the latest safety standards,” American Clean Power Association Vice President of Energy Storage Noah Roberts told Newsweek. The ACP’s safety framework is intended to accelerate the safety improvements the industry has already achieved.
A 2024 study by the Electric Power Research Institute found that the overall rate of safety incidents “has sharply decreased” as lessons learned from earlier failures were incorporated into new designs.
“Historically speaking, there have been very few fires at grid-scale energy storage facilities,” Roberts said. The ACP report includes an assessment of incidents by the Fire and Risk Alliance, an engineering and consulting company, that looked into 35 fire incidents at U.S. battery systems between 2012 and 2024.
“Given the scale of the hundreds of energy storage facilities that are deployed across the country, that is a very rare occurrence,” Roberts said.
The assessment examined effects from smoke and firefighting water runoff and found no health impact to surrounding communities from those fires.
Roberts said most of the incidents involved facilities that were constructed before a national fire protection safety standard for energy storage was published in 2019.
“So, a key recommendation that we have for communities that were early adopters of energy storage technologies is to review those facilities, conduct a hazard mitigation analysis and take corrective action where necessary,” he said.
Roberts said the report includes a model ordinance that host communities can adapt and that safety measures do not add significantly to an energy storage system’s cost.
The ACP hopes to address safety concerns that might impede adoption of battery systems as they become a more important tool to meet growing electricity demand while reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Battery system growth is booming as the combination of solar power and energy storage has become not only the cleaner option but the more affordable one for power companies that need to expand generating capacity.
An analysis of the new electricity supply that was added to the U.S. grid in 2024 found that solar energy and storage accounted for 84 percent of the growth.
Roberts said battery energy storage capacity has grown 25 times its size in 2018, and projections show record levels of deployment expected in the coming years.
“There’s more need now than ever to have a grid that’s flexible and resilient in the face of extreme weather or other related shocks,” Roberts said. “And energy storage is at its core.”