On gridscale battery safety
In Parliament recently, the Conservative MP Nick Timothy asked DESNZ about the safety of gridscale batteries. We asked Dr John Fannon, the author of NZW’s recent paper for his thoughts on the response from the minister, Michael Shanks.
Question from Nick Timothy MP
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment (a) his Department, (b) its arms-length bodies and (c) planning authorities have made of the potential impact of grid-scale battery energy storage solution systems on the safety of nearby residential units.
Response from Michael Shanks
Grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are regulated by the Health and Safety Executive within a robust framework which requires BESS designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures to ensure health and safety throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation, and decommissioning.
BESS projects are considered by the local planning regime in England. The government has updated planning practice guidance to encourage BESS developers to engage with local fire and rescue services, and for local planning authorities to refer to guidance published by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC). The NFCC’s current guidance proposes a minimum distance of 25 metres between BESS and occupied buildings.
Comment by Dr John Fannon
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not fully recognise the dangers of Battery Energy Storage Systems. For example it would be logical to argue that COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) regulations should apply, but this is not the view of HSE.
There are no regulations for BESS in the UK and there are no UK standards. Regulations are statutory – i.e. enforceable by law. Standards change over time and are not enforceable.
BESS developers currently rely on US Standards, principally NFPA 855, which is published by the National Fire Protection Agency and updated every three years. The current revision is from 2023, and work is ongoing to develop the 2026 version.
The local fire and rescue services have a difficult task. They need to negotiate with the developer to agree a BESS set up that should allow firefighting vehicles to enter the site upwind and to be manoeuvred – in other words, space must be left on site for passing places and turning circles. NFCC guidance requires there to be at least two independent access points, so that whatever the wind direction, firefighting vehicles can enter the site with the wind at their backs. Otherwise crews could be working in an atmosphere of toxic smoke.
Because the fire and rescue services can only give guidance, they cannot force the developer to ensure two independent access points. This is borne out by experience at Chickerell – the BESS development I described in my recent Net Zero Watch paper – where the only access is in the north-east corner, despite the prevailing winds coming from the west or south-west. Chickerell will be one of the largest BESS developments in the world so far.
The NFCC’s guidance of 25 metres between a BESS and any occupied buildings is to ensure that radiant heat does not cause a hazard to residents. However, no account has been taken of the dangers to local residents of smoke. As described in my paper, toxic plumes have been found to spread many kilometres. During the BESS fire at Moorabool, Victoria Australia in 2021, the fire authority advised a lockdown (shelter in place) across an area of 30 square kilometers.
The recent fire at Moss Landing resulted in considerable concern among local residents, many at considerable distances from the source of the fire. I have downloaded some of the complaints, which give a flavour of the problems that will arise from a BESS fire. The results are show in the graph below.
Percentage reporting various complaints
The physicist Professor Peter Dobson of Oxford University has observed that many of the complaints are similar to the symptoms of metal fume fever, a common thing with welders, especially apprentices. He relates the case of a security guard who entered a building at the Oxford Science Park where there was a metal fire (specifically zinc, producing zinc oxide), and was subsequently unwell for several months.