An April 2019 fire and subsequent explosion which caused injuries to firefighters and destruction of a grid-scale battery storage system in Arizona likely started with an internal cell defect that caused the “preventable” incident, analysis has found.
While pumped hydro plants still account for around 96% of installed capacity of stationary energy storage worldwide, there will be more than 28GW of lithium batteries deployed for stationary storage applications by the year 2028, Navigant Research has predicted.
While an investigation into a recent fire incident at one of its energy storage facilities remains ongoing, representatives of utility Arizona Public Service (APS) will appear onstage with technology provider Fluence to discuss fire safety at an upcoming event in California.
A serious incident at an energy storage project that hospitalised four firefighters in Arizona is currently under investigation, with “investigative outcomes” from the utility in question, APS, set to inform the industry’s path forwards.
A fire at a large-scale battery energy storage project late last week left four firefighters injured in Arizona, with two reported to be seriously injured, in an incident now under investigation.
Arizona Public Service (APS) has announced a plan to make solar energy dispatchable into the evening using batteries, calling for the deployment of 850MW of energy storage by 2025.
The installation will be used to provide “critical peaking capacity” and “increased” grid reliability. AES will provide a system with a four-hour duration based on Fluence’s Advancion platform. It will be leased under a 20-year contract with AES the owner and operator of the project.
