<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/fear-of-big-battery-fires-is-experiencing-its-own-kind-of-thermal-runaway-is-it-justified/>
"When EnergyAustralia held the sod-turning event for its four-hour Wooreen big
battery in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley in February, a team from the Country Fire
Authority was in attendance.
Their presence at the event was likely mostly to do with the smoking ceremony,
which was conducted expertly and without incident in a dry and windy paddock by
Gunaikurnai Elder, Michelle Dow.
But the CFA was also there as a key stakeholder in the Wooreen battery; a major
new industrial facility that could, theoretically, be affected by a fire or
find itself in the path of one.
“Fire safety is one of the key considerations for communities when a renewable
energy facility is proposed,” Victoria’s CFA said in a media release on the
subject in December.
“CFA’s Specialist Risk and Fire Safety Unit (SRFSU) works with regulators and
industry to ensure that fire risk management is considered in the design and
operation of renewable energy facilities.
“CFA firefighters are highly trained to manage a range of hazards and risks
when responding to emergency situations and have been doing so for years.”
In the case of lithium-ion batteries, the most likely emergency situation is
“thermal runaway” – an uncontrollable build-up of heat and pressure that can
result an intense and potentially explosive self-sustaining fire that can be
difficult to extinguish.
By far the biggest risk of thermal runaway lies in portable electronic devices
stored in and around the home that are being charged incorrectly, have been
damaged or exposed to heat, or disposed of incorrectly – cheaply made e-bikes
and e-scooters have been particularly problematic.
In big batteries, this sort of incident is rare. And yet, in Australia,
community opposition to big batteries due to fire risk is developing a sort of
thermal runaway of its own – self-sustaining and increasingly difficult to
extinguish."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
