Energy Storage: BESS Risk and Failure Statistics

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) continue to add new energy capacity to the grid across the country, with new deployments scaling up significantly year over year. As more systems are built and operated across the country, questions about fire risks associated with the technology can impede opportunities to develop new projects. In this PowerCast, Lakshmi Srinivasan and Dr. Stephanie Shaw of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) analyze BESS deployments and facility incidents to contextualize BESS risk profiles relative to other infrastructure and how BESS facilities have evolved to mitigate potential risk factors.

During this PowerCast, attendees will learn:

• How EPRI tracks BESS failure incidents with its BESS Failure Incident Database
• How BESS failure rates compare to other grid infrastructure
• The risk factors that contribute to BESS failures, and the consequences impacted by those risk factors