EU Energy Storage Systems Safety Conference 2023

The conference aims to share the state of the art safety knowledge regarding ESS. In addition, we intend to disclose and connect the various ‘silo’s’ that deal with ESS-safety such as industry, research, emergency response and authorities.

Important information

Date

November 8 and 9, 2023

Location

NIPV, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Fee

€ 495

Target group

See description

Organizer

NIPV, Connectr, Elaad, DNV

In 2021 and 2022, the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV) hosted two digital editions of the EU Energy Storage Systems Safety Conference. In 2023, NIPV organizes a two-day physical edition of this event at their location in Arnhem. The first day will be science and research based presentations about the newest research and state of the art knowledge regarding the safety of Energy Storage Systems (ESS). The second day aims to learn from Dutch field experiences: site-visits combined with several lectures at different locations in the Eastern part of The Netherlands. Examples are the regional fire brigade of Gelderland-Midden and ElaadNL. Attendants will travel this day with busses from and to the different event-locations.

For whom?

The main audience for the conference is professionals working in the field of the safety of ESS and
related research. Professionals could for example be the staff from fire brigade concerned with the
incident response, but also with risk mitigation, prevention or policy advisors. They could also be
employees from regional/national utility compagnies, as well as officials in municipalities concerned
with the licensing of ESS. Last but not least, industry is welcome to join this conference.

Organization

The NIPV conference office will organize the event. All contributions will be in English. Keep an eye on our website for updates. Hotels are located nearby the NIPVs location. Details are in the registration form.

Speakers

You will find an overview of the speakers here. More speakers will be added. As soon as these are final, this will be announced on the website.

IJle Stelstra, General Director NIPV: Opening

Mark Dijkstra, TenneT: Batteries: security of supply & safety
Maintaining the electrical balance of the grid, using batteries
The electrical grid in Europe is set to be 50 Hertz. The combined Transmission Grid Operators in that area have the task to maintain this rhythm. The theory is to produce exactly the same amount as consumption because we could not store electricity. In reality it does change in time: that is called grid imbalance. The first indication of imbalances can be measured through the frequency, and it can be used for restoration of the energy balance. A game changing event is (electrical) energy storage: large batteries. This presentation gives an impression on how this is done from the point of view of the grid operator.

John O’Boyle, Group Manager, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service in ESS Liverpool. Liverpool Carnegie Road Incident. Fully developed Thermal Runaway incident in a 20MW Battery Energy Storage System.

Jetty Middelkoop, AGS – Hazmat officer, Fire Dept. Amsterdam Amstelland
Fire in the battery room of a hybrid river cruiser
An explosion and fire in the battery room of a hybrid river cruiser led to a long deployment of the fire department. How can you deploy your people safely when there is a risk of a devastating explosion on the lowest deck? Join the hazmat officer in the handling of this incident.

Paul Christensen, Professor, Newcastle University
My journey to vapour cloud explosions and lithium-ion batteries 
The presentation will cover the research of my team and the resulting gradual realisation of the importance of vapour cloud production from lithium-ion batteries.

Matthew Paiss, Technical Advisor, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
ESS Explosion Control
With limited options for fire suppression agents for Lithium-based BESS, preventing explosions is critical in all failure events. This presentation will discuss gaps and best practices in explosion control systems now required in BESS installed the USA. 

Jonna Hynynen, Researcher, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Fire safety of battery energy storage systems (BESS)
This presentation will cover several research projects conducted at RISE that are related to the fire safety of BESS systems. Existing regulations, fire protection guidelines as well as the results from fire suppression tests will be presented.

Rianne ’t Hoen, Senior Consultant, DN
Safety and regulation of stationary Li-ion energy storage systems
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) will be a key building block to realize the energy transition. Each energy storage system has inherent risk of uncontrolled release of this energy, it is therefore important to mitigate these risks and avoid introduction of more risks into the society. In this presentation, we will discuss the safety challenges of BESS, current standards and regulations.

Mark Huijben, Professor, University of Twente
Lithium-ion Batteries: Variations in performance and safety
Battery demands are rising 20% per year making the need for usage of non-critical materials and circular processes an urgent requirement. None of the current rechargeable battery technologies can fully satisfy all the challenging requirements for our future energy storage applications, regarding energy density, charging time, lifetime, sustainability and safety. An overview will be given of the current developments towards safe, next-generation battery technology.

Henk Brans, NIPV: Safety of future batteries
We will discuss the safety aspects of new Lithium-ion subtypes, Sodium-ion and Redox-Flow. These are three main categories of new battery types with potential to hit the market within ten years. Starting from the scientific literature on the development stage and stability of these battery types, we aimed to probe the safety risks are expected. The research report will be made available in English.

Victoria Hutchison, Senior Research Project Manager, Fire Protection Research Foundation
Guidance and Considerations for Safe Energy Storage System Installations and Incident Response: A US Perspective
Battery Energy Storage Systems (ESS) are a critical part of today’s dramatic push for sustainable & renewable electrical energy, and as a result, these systems are proliferating at an exponential pace. The fire protection and emergency response communities have made great strides to address the potential hazards to ensure acceptably safe installations, globally. This presentation will provide an update on NFPA’s guidance for the safe installation of stationary energy storage systems, relevant legislative updates in the US, learnings from incident experience, an overview of incident response considerations as reflected in NFPA’s training programs and updates on the latest relevant research.

Nils Rosmuller, Applied professor energy and Transport safety NIPV: Closing statement

Program

Program Day 2, November 9, a site visit at two of the following companies

Timetable ESS Conference | November 9, 2023

08:15 hr Bus transport from hotels
08:45 hr Registration with coffee/tea
09:00 hr Start programme (Industrial Studios, IS)
09:15 hr Moving to the various locations
09:30 hr Start sub-programme
11:45 hr End sub-programme
12:00 hr Lunch (Industrial Studios)
13:15 hr Moving to the various locations
13:30 hr Start sub-programme
15:45 hr End sub-programme
16:00 hr Closing
16:10 hr Drinks
17.00 hr Bus transport back to the hotels

Registration

You can use the following document for your registration. No later than a week before the start of the conference you will receive a confirmation of your registration and some useful information.