One quarter of large-scale batteries have built-in fire risks caused by manufacturing defects in components
26 per cent of battery energy storage systems (BESS) have quality problems with their fire detection and suppression systems
faults include fire alarm abort buttons and smoke and temperature sensors not being correctly wired in
18% of units had defects in their thermal management systems due to parts that weren’t installed properly
company audited 52 factories in the US, China, India, Vietnam and South Korea, and found 1300 manufacturing issues in some 30 gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium-ion projects
quarter of all problems came from cell manufacturing – half come when the battery is installed and tested on site
install issues – balance of plant problems such as liquid coolant leakage due to deformed flange plates, defective valves, and malfunctioning temperature, smoke, gas sensors, audible and visual alarms due to internal mis-wiring; mistakes made during the installation of enclosures; and performance testing which saw the largest number of critical and major incidents
Bouldercombe fire was caused by a problem in the way the 50 MW/100 MWh battery interfaced with the grid
failure has been isolated to the power electronics interface with the AC bus bar in the individual Megapack unit itself and not the broader installation of Megapack units