Land-based battery energy storage systems

Safety, standards and regulations

WATTS UP 2021
Rianne ’t Hoen PhD 10 March 2021
Agenda
Land-based battery energy storage systems safety

❖ Energy transition
❖ Battery energy storage system safety
❖ Standards & regulation
❖ Summary

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Energy transition
Decarbonization Electrification of transport

World electricity generation by power station type World market share of electric vehicle sales by type
➢ Electricity generation in 2050: one third from solar ➢ Total cost of ownership cost parity EV car expected
PV, and another third from wind in 2022

Decarbonization and electrification of heat & transport lead to a flexibility challenge in the power system
Energy transition outlook: eto.dnvgl.com/
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Data access: eto.dnvgl.com/forecast-data-mf
Battery energy storage system price trend
Capital cost projections for utility scale energy storage

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 BESS safety challenge Liverpool, UK
Explosion & fire
(Sep 2020)

Fact: Energy Risk:

storage systems Uncontrolled
contain high release of this
energy densities energy

Surprise, Arizona, USA

Explosion
(April 2019)

South Korea (2017-2019) 4% of total installed capacity

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/aps-and-fluence-investigating-
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explosion-at-arizona-energy-storage-facility
BESS safety
Thermal runaway

Temperature increase

Acceleration of
More heat
chemical
production
reaction

Exothermic reactions

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BESS safety
Example: thermal runaway of Li-ion pouch cells

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BESS safety
Example: thermal runaway of Li-ion pouch cells

www.mpoweruk.com

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 BESS safety
Causes Consequences
Safeguards Safeguards Safeguards Safeguards
Thermal Runaway
Mechanical abuse
External Electrical abuse
Toxic off gas
abuse External fire
Cooling failure
Fire

Internal Dendrites
Explosion
failures Particles

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 Battery energy storage system
How to ensure safety?

Fire

Avoid incident Mitigate effect

• Good quality components • Containment
• Safe system integration • Suppression
• Safeguard operational window • Ventilation

All batteries can burn and emit gases

Early detection off-gassing
In general, CO is the best and easiest marker to detect.
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Battery energy storage system
How to ensure safety?

Increased ventilation
Closed ventilation
- Oxygen increases
- Limited oxygen

Hazardous
gas
Hazardous
gas

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Standards & regulation

A standard
• is an agreement between stakeholders about a product, service or system
• reflects a consensus
• provides analytical methods, specifications and terms & definitions (normative)
• provides recommendations and explanations (informative)

Standard can be
• adopted by industry
• enforced by authority: referred to into regulation

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Standards & regulation
Current situation

Environment

Grid-connection

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Standards & regulation
Relevant standards

Other
Transport
Electrical
Batteries in general: Module System EMC
IEC 62485-2 IEC 62619 IEC 62933-5-2 Power converter
UL 1642 UL 1973 UL 9540, UL 9540A Ingress protection
NFPA 855 Functional safety
Operational safety: 62485-5 Cyber security

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Applicable EU directives and harmonised standards

EU Directives Standards
• Low Voltage 2014/35/EU • All EU harmonised standards:
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-
• EMC 2014/30/EU standards_en

• ROHS 2011/65/EU (+ Am 2017/2102) (Restriction of Hazardous • LVD:

Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-
standards/low-voltage_en
• Battery 2006/66/EC
• EMC:
New: 2020/353/EU (COD) Proposal for a Regulation https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-
concerning batteries and waste batteries standards/electromagnetic-compatibility_en

• RoHS:
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-
standards/restriction-of-hazardous-substances_en

• Batteries/BESS
Note: The use of these standards remains voluntary.
Manufacturers are free to choose another technical solution to demonstrate
compliance with the mandatory legal requirements.

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Proposal European Battery Regulation

Regulation vs directive
• Absence of a complete set of rules for batteries placed on the market
• Uneven implementation of obligations across EU Member States
• Existence of barriers to the functioning of recycling markets

Aim:
• Focus on green deal
• Harmonise product requirements for batteries
• Provide legal certainty to unlock investments and boost the production
capacity for sustainable batteries in Europe and beyond

New regulation on safety:

• Technical documentation demonstrating safety
• Safety instructions to handle waste batteries
• CEN/CENELEC: standards related to performance, safety Proposal_for_a_Regulation_on_batteries_and_waste
_batteries.pdf (europa.eu)
and sustainability

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Summary

Battery energy storage systems will become an essential building

block to the energy transition

The challenge of BESS is in system safety

Lack of regulation/ standards is a risk for successful deployment of

battery energy storage systems

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Thank you!
Questions?

Rianne.Hoen@dnv.com
+31(0)6 1506 3584

www.dnv.com

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