We need battery public safety standards – Watt?

From cfact

David Wojick

Existing battery safety standards are very incomplete for a large number of reckless, huge grid battery scale composites.

Massachusetts recently raised public comments, which addressed important issues with planned multi-billion-dollar battery purchases. Public safety is one of the issues, so I submitted the comment below. I just found this request at the last minute, so the comments are short, but they involve some central security issues.

By background, a law was passed in December requiring Massachets Electric Power Littilities, but up to 5,000 megawatts of grid scale batteries. The first round will buy 4 to 10-hour batteries up to 1,500 MW and another 1,000 MW of round 2.

The National Energy Office and Utilities are buying RFP for the two monster batteries. They have listed a list of key RFP-related “stakeholder issues” and requested comments on them. Here is my comment.

The beginning of the comment I submitted:

“These short comments are for rounds 1 and 2. Additional information upon request.

Billions of dollars in battery purchases in Massachusetts have caused serious safety issues as hundreds of container-sized batteries are likely to be purchased. Here is a comment question from stakeholders:

“9. Safety:

one. What safety standards should be required for the minimum baseline?

b. Security systems, insurance requirements, with emergency responders and reception communities, emergency response plans, and any other necessary protections to ensure the safety of neighboring communities. ”

Here is my comment:

The central question is how to prevent or respond to a fire. These huge battery chemistry units can be spontaneously ignited or exploded already established.

The battery cells must be spaced far enough to prevent the unit fire from spreading to its nearby units, which can catastrophically ignite the entire facility. There is no required spacing. AIG Insurance Company discusses this issue here:

They require at least 10' spacing, but I recommend that 20' spacing per location is safer, limited to 10 containers. Careful thermal engineering is required based on the specific battery technology used. These battery chemists burn at an incredible 5,000 degree F.

There should be no host or neighborhoods. The site should be rural and be isolated from the community as much as possible.

Liability insurance should be required for firefighting in other places in all facilities. If there are neighborhoods, you may need to be ordered billion dollars (including death).

On-site suppression or containment systems are required. A large amount of on-site water supply is required and contaminated runoff is curbed. Hitting these fires requires special training and equipment. This facility should be paid for.

See mine For more information.

Submit respectfully

Dr. David Wojick

The comment submitted ends.

When it comes to spacing between these huge battery cells, current industry practice is catastrophically incompetent. Specifically, they are abusing the standards issued by the National Fire Protection Association. This is NFPA 885, titled “Standards for Installing Fixed Energy Storage Systems.”

This sounds good, but it is written for very small storage systems and only takes about 70 kW or so. Grid scale battery cells operate 1,500 kW or more. For these monster batteries, the 3-foot spacing required by the NFPA 885 is totally wrong, but it's incredibly what people are using.

Ironically, the Clean Energy Association of America has just released a “Battery Storage System: A Blueprint for Security” which has NFPA 885 and shows several large facilities with 3-foot spacing.

look

Due to this tiny spacing and a unit shot of 5,000 degrees nearby will surely ignite, causing the chain reaction to engulf the entire facility. This is just happening at the moss landing site where 350 MW of batteries rise in very hot flames and can be seen for miles.

Grid scale battery storage is out of control. The NFPA commented about the new grid battery standard about a year ago, but nothing happened. We need to act now.

Related