Safe distance between energy storage power station equipment and buildings

In addition to NYSERDA's BESS Guidebook, ESA issued the U.S. Energy Storage Operational Safety Guidelines in December 2019 to provide the BESS industry with a guide to current codes and standards applicable to BESS and provide additional guidelines to plan for and mitigate potential operational hazards.

NYSERDA published the Battery Energy Storage System Guidebook, most-recently updated in December 2020, which contains information and step-by-step instructions to support local governments in New York in managing the development of residential, commercial, and utility-scale BESS in their communities.

However, the DNV GL report concluded that the most commonly relied-upon standards for battery safety are insufficient to address the threat of thermal runaway (described herein) and explosion. The report recommends additional steps that should be taken, and these are included in the summary below.

In systems that are grounded with little to no impedance (reactors, resistors), ground currents can be substantial. These systems should be designed to trip off-line automatically, in order to clear ground faults. In systems that are ungrounded or have high levels of impedance, overvoltages pose a safety risk.

In systems that are ungrounded or have high levels of impedance, overvoltages pose a safety risk. Ensure that any overvoltages will be controlled with grounding banks, other forms of impedance grounding, or surge arresters. The electrical components at risk of overvoltage should also have phase-to-phase level insulation.

For BESS that are located inside a building, storage venting systems should take building ventilation systems into account so that any hazardous gases are not drawn into other rooms, putting building occupants at risk.