Gridscale batteries could cause havoc in urban areas

A new report from Net Zero Watch warns that the expansion of gridscale batteries represents a major threat to urban areas because of the fire risk. Lithium-ion batteries are prone to so-called ‘thermal runaway’, and the resulting fires are highly toxic and hard to extinguish.

The paper describes recent major battery fires in the USA and Australia and considers how similar conflagrations might affect conurbations in the UK. For example, the fire at Elon Musk’s ‘Big Battery’ in Australia led to homes up to 9km away being locked down to protect residents from the fumes. The paper shows that a similar fire in a battery installation in Chickerell near Weymouth could lead to locking down of Weymouth itself (with a population of 60,000 rising to over 100,000 in summer) and even the outskirts of Dorchester if the wind is southerly, while one at a site proposed for the south bank of the River Thames could even shut down the Port of Tilbury.

Author John Fannon said:

Gridscale battery fires are a real threat, and an intolerable risk in densely populated countries like the UK.”

Peter Edwards , Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Oxford noted

All lithium-ion batteries carry an inherent risk of fires, explosions and off- gassing of toxic gases and particulates. With gridscale batteries, the more lithium , the greater the risk.  

Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:

There are huge numbers of these batteries in planning, and some will get through. Eventually, one will go up in smoke and there will be chaos.”

 Notes for editors

The paper is entitled Gridscale Batteries and Fire Risk, and can be downloaded by clicking the cover image.