Are we paying enough attention to renewable energy generation safety?

Firetrace International’s report highlights that renewable energy generation and batteries are often co-located – however, the focus is on battery fire safety alone.

The growth of US energy storage in 2023 – from 869MW to 3983MW of grid-scale energy – has brought battery risk management into sharper focus, yet the fire safety of the solar and wind turbines themselves is being overlooked. This is according to the Double Indemnity: How to Tackle Fire Risk at Co-located Renewables Projects report.

The co-location of renewable energy assets is becoming common. American Clean Power reported that the deployment of co-located renewables rose by 90% in 2023. In particular, battery plus solar installations led the way with 10.45GW, and such projects are forecast by the US Energy Information Administration to account for 81% of new electricity generation capacity in 2024.

Developers have rightly identified and sought to manage the risk of fire in battery systems but not in wind or solar assets, among which batteries are often interspersed on co-located sites.

Solar and wind infrastructure carry their own fire hazards. Though less common than battery fire, 1 in 2,000 turbines will experience a catastrophic fire and solar farm fires are understood to be underreported.

Consequently, co-located renewable projects that fail to apply the same precautions are only managing half of the overall project’s risk of fire. This leaves owners vulnerable to significant expense in the event of a fire, with battery losses potentially coming to $2m and wind turbine losses to $9m per individual asset. This is before the added loss of project downtime and the impact of reputational damage.

Managing the fire risk of renewable assets in the US is not as straightforward as it could be. The report outlines that local regulations differ from state to state, meaning that developers cannot rely entirely on in-built fire suppression systems to meet the required safety standards in place.

Brian Cashion, Director of Engineering at Firetrace International, says: “Last year, the industry’s awareness of energy storage fire risk grew substantially, partly driven by delays and cancellations of projects due to fire concerns. The International Association of Fire Chiefs also ran a fire risk campaign for energy storage, demonstrating a committed attitude to managing the hazards associated with batteries. What this new report illustrates though, is the prevailing but mistaken belief that batteries represent the only high-profile fire risk in co-located renewables projects.”

The report advocates that fire precautions are extended to the whole site including suppression measures, that fire risk assessments cover the whole site, and that regular testing is carried out of the operational assets. Cashion adds: “The only way to fully protect co-located renewables’ infrastructure, revenue and reputation is to take equal care of all the assets in the project rather than solely taking care of the most likely fire hazard.”

Download the report at b.link/Firetrace_report

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