New Energy Storage Safety Assessment

Are safety engineering risk assessment methods still applicable to new energy storage systems?

While the traditional safety engineering risk assessment method are still applicable to new energy storage system, the fast pace of technological change is introducing unknown into systems and creates new paths to hazards and losses (e.g., software control).

What's new in energy storage safety?

Since the publication of the first Energy Storage Safety Strategic Plan in 2014, there have been introductions of new technologies, new use cases, and new codes, standards, regulations, and testing methods. Additionally, failures in deployed energy storage systems (ESS) have led to new emergency response best practices.

Why is safety important in energy storage systems?

Safety is fundamental to the development and design of energy storage systems. Each energy storage unit has multiple layers of prevention, protection and mitigation systems (detailed further in Section 4). These minimise the risk of overcharge, overheating or mechanical damage that could result in an incident such as a fire.

Is systemic based risk assessment suitable for complicated energy storage system?

This paper demonstrated that systemic based risk assessment such Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) is suitable for complicated energy storage system but argues that element of probabilistic risk-based assessment needs to be incorporated.

Can a large-scale solar battery energy storage system improve accident prevention and mitigation?

This work describes an improved risk assessment approach for analyzing safety designs in the battery energy storage system incorporated in large-scale solar to improve accident prevention and mitigation, via incorporating probabilistic event tree and systems theoretic analysis. The causal factors and mitigation measures are presented.

Can energy storage systems be scaled up?

The energy storage system can be scaled up by adding more flywheels. Flywheels are not generally attractive for large-scale grid support services that require many kWh or MWh of energy storage because of the cost, safety, and space requirements. The most prominent safety issue in flywheels is failure of the rotor while it is rotating.