Report on Electric Storage Explosion Highlights Danger of a Growing Technology

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Report on Electric Storage Explosion Highlights Danger of a Growing Technology

By Jim Sams | August 6, 2020

An investigation into the cause of an explosion at an Arizona energy storage facility that injured four firefighters confirms what engineers had feared: Packing lithium-ion batteries tightly together can spark a chain reaction that can cause catastrophic damage and endanger lives.

Arizona Public Service is holding off on its plan to aggressively expand battery storage capacity while its suppliers draw up new plans that will reduce the risk of similar accidents. APS has also taken two undamaged battery storage facilities offline until mitigation measures can be devised, said Scott Bordenkircher, director of technology innovation and integration for the utility.

Bordenkircher said APS, which serves 2.6 million customers, is letting its peers know that existing standards may not offer protection from catastrophic failures.

“We’re starting to spread the word,” he said. “There are still gaps in those standards across the industry.”

Bordenkircher said APS had been on the verge of signing two contracts to build additional energy storage, but has asked the vendors who submitted the winning bids to go back and review their designs to ensure there are adequate safeguards.

Knowledge about how to safely store energy is crucial as utilities invest heavily in renewable sources such as solar and wind, which cannot be cranked up or turned down to match consumer demand. APS plans to add 850 megawatts of electric storage capacity as it works toward a goal to produce 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.

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[Laelth]

1. This highlights the major problem with wind and solar.

We don’t know how to efficiently and safely store the energy created by these technologies.

-Laelth

[bluedigger]

2. Storing energy is inherently dangerous.

Petroleum tanks and pipelines rupture and leak, hydroelectric dams fail, nuclear plants create radioactive waste...

[Finishline42]

3. It's an engineering problem to be solved

It doesn't mean that it shouldn't be used.

Batteries are the #1 discriminator in EV's. Mainly how long they last.

Nissan tried to make their own in the original Leaf but gave that up and now works with LG.

I wonder if heat buildup was the problem?

One of the things that impacts the range on a Tesla is that the car heats and cools the battery pack in extreme cold and hot temps.

edited to add:

Also, we learn more in failure than success.

[hunter]

4. Nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) pouch cells seem a strange choice for fixed storage systems...

... where weight is not a consideration as it is in automobiles or personal electronics.

Other battery chemistries have a better safety profile but weigh more per kilowatt hour stored and/or require more costly control systems to maximize battery life.

Cost-cutting literally blew up in these fire-fighters faces.

Here's a more detailed link:

https://www.energy-storage.news/news/arizona-battery-fires-lessons-can-be-learned-by-industry-to-prevent-further

"The lessons the industry has learned from these incidents is that Li-ion batteries are inherently fragile, and any electrical, thermal, or mechanical abuse, along with internal defects, can potentially initiate cell failure and thermal runaway," the DNV GL McMicken incident report said.

Personally, I don't think "renewable energy" can support the high energy industrial consumer economy many of us now enjoy, most especially all 8 billion of us.