Date: 7th of March 2022 
Time: 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Venue: Virtual 

Course Overview 

This course will provide participants with an understanding of lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and the risks posed by lithium ion battery systems, particularly in terms of fire, and how to mitigate those risks. Attendees will also learn about emergency response best practices, the latest learnings from the US and case studies from the UK and Ireland. 

Who Should Attend 

Anyone interested in understanding energy storage safety at a high level. Anyone interested in understanding lithium ion battery risks and mitigation measures. 

Course Content 

• A brief overview of lithium-ion battery technology and its use in BESS (mainstream cell chemistries, basic components of a BESS, leading manufacturers and integrators).
• A brief overview of standard design concepts and novel concepts that are being proposed (e.g. warehoused solutions, double stacking of racks).
• An overview of the safety risks for battery storage system and how these might occur. This will be focused particularly on fire/explosion risks and potential hazardous gas releases, and discuss the root causes of these kind of incidents.
• An explanation of the relevant design standards and regulations for lithium-ion batteries and storage system safety. This will particularly focus on US best practice guidelines and testing standards such as NFPA 855 and UL9540A which are widely being applied in Europe.
• Advice on how incident prevention can be best planned for at different stages of a project (design and planning, construction and commissioning, operations and maintenance).
• Provision of relevant information sources/templates and guidelines for developers to engage with first responders and fire services to ensure proper procedures in the event of an incident occurring.
• Advice on best practices/guidelines on how to manage incidents if they do occur.
• Guidance for developers/first responders and fire services for post-incident management.

Certification 

This course may be eligible for CEUs in the US. 

About the Trainer 

Nick Warner is cofounder and managing principal of Energy Safety Response Group llc. Prior to founding the company, Nick worked as an independent consultant through Warner Energy Storage Solutions and was a senior test engineer at DNV GL working with Laboratory Services and with Distributed Energy Resources in Energy Advisory developing and leading their energy storage safety and testing efforts including explosion modeling, risk analysis, and code development efforts. Nick has also led efforts to develop the Alternative Energy Fire Research and Training Center in Piqua, Ohio. He completed his master’s work in Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research working in and running the Battery and Energy Storage Laboratory. There, his work focused on second use of automotive lithium batteries in grid applications. In addition to his main work, he also assisted with and ran projects involving the development of hybrid energy storage systems and state of the art algorithms for battery management systems as well as supporting world record setting student motorsport project teams including the Buckeye Bullet and Buckeye Current electric motorcycle team.

At DNV GL and WESS, Nick focused primarily on safety topics related to battery storage integration and fire safety as well as failure analysis of energy storage systems. In addition, he has applied his experience in battery testing to supporting battery degradation and performance validation, code development and the evaluation of materials and sensors for passive and active safety applications. These hands-on skills have also been applied to the validation of state-of-the-art technologies for deployment in grid storage applications. Nick also worked on due diligence and bankability studies, including hardware and safety review, and performs field inspections on ES systems. Nick became heavily involved in standards activities as well including UL standards as well as NFPA and ICC codes for fire safety and ESS deployment. Before leaving DNV GL, Nick led the development of the industry’s first third party controls and BMS validation testing service as well as streamlining DNV GL’s explosion modeling efforts and permitting efforts for ESS.