After a high-profile fire at a battery storage facility in California, a leading industry trade group is out with recommendations for how regulators can ensure energy storage systems are safe.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP) released a blueprint for battery storage facility safety Friday, offering a model for regulators drafting new rules. The blueprint recommends aligning any safety rules with standards published by a national fire safety group, which ACP says are sufficient to avoid a runaway fire or environmental catastrophe.
“If there is a question among the community about how to ensure safety, this blueprint provides an answer,” said Noah Roberts, ACP’s vice president of energy storage.
The blueprint comes as state and local regulators are weighing how to balance the safety concerns around battery facilities with the need to quickly deploy new storage to support a grid heavy in wind and solar power. While studies have shown that battery facilities are safe and fires are rare, there are concerns that fires could cause thermal runaway where multiple cells overheat, causing a larger blaze and potentially the spread of toxic components.
