Battery farms are 'emerging risk'

A fire service wants more power to enforce safety measures for battery energy storage systems (BESS). BESS stockpile green energy by using thousands of lithium-ion batteries in storage containers, but there are concerns about fire safety.

Henry Griffin, Suffolk's deputy chief fire officer, described the sites as an "emerging risk" and said communities were worried. The government said there were "high safety standards in place" and BESS were a protection against "future energy shocks".

Mr Griffin warned the scale of BESS meant firefighters were having to learn new techniques. "There can be complications with vapour clouds and fires will last a long time," he added.
"It is an emerging risk for us and we are alive to it." He wants fire services to be given more power to enforce safety measures.

"I'd like to see a power that is akin to a regulatory order like those for a commercial property, where we would have the power to enforce safety measures on those sites."