AES examining cause of thermal runaway at Arizona site

• Power company AES Corporation is investigating the cause of thermal runaway at a 10MW battery power storage system (BESS) site it owns and operates in Chandler, Arizona.

The fire at the Dorman battery storage space center, which provides power to regional utility Salt River Project (SRP), began on 18 April. The sprinkler system was deployed automatically and continued to spray water for a number of days to keep the temperature level down, as well as was turned off on April 29.

SRP said that on 1 May the fire department transformed control of the site back over to AES to ensure that it might start its investigation, with the battery structure stable with no visible indication of smoke or fire for greater than 2 days.

" Considering that the turn over to AES, CFD (Chandler Fire Department) returned to the site to respond as required. The scenario is considered under control as well as remains under AES control," the declaration said. "The investigation of the case will certainly be led by AES."

There have been no injuries associated with the occasion as well as no damage to SRP electrical facilities, SRP told Energy-storage. news in a statement. The local freeway was closed, the City of Chandler informed neighboring organizations to evacuate and also SRP disconnected its adjacent Knox Substation from the BESS.

Dorman is a 10MW, four hour, standalone BESS project had as well as operated by AES Corporation. It was finished in 2019 as well as offers power storage space to SRP under a 20-year arrangement. The utility has actually enlisted several huge system integrators to provide projects in its region of responsibility in Arizona, consisting of Fluence as well as Tesla.

AES Corporation offered Energy-Storage. news with a statement from Mark Miller, AES Market Magnate and also General Manager for California who has gotten on site managing the response:

" On Monday, April 18, smoke was found inside the Gilbert (the name of the holding company of the project) battery power storage center in Chandler, Arizona. Security systems responded effectively, as well as the local fire department was dispatched. The fire department effectively managed the circumstance up until Sunday, May 1, when the center was considered combustion free, and also administration of the structure was gone back to AES."

" AES experts as well as experts stay at the site as the circumstance shifts to the examination stage. When safe conditions permit, we are committed to performing a full evaluation."