Only a few hundred meters from the forest! A lithium battery energy storage power station caught fire

Last Tuesday, a lithium battery energy storage container caught fire in Barban, Saucats, France, and was brought under control after a day and a night of intervention by firefighters. No fire spread and casualties occurred. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Firefighters

at the scene said that the lithium battery inside the container had burned, which was also confirmed by Mayor Saucats.

According to local officials, nearly 50 lithium battery containers were deployed at the energy storage station where the accident occurred. A safe distance is set between each container unit, and the site is hundreds of meters away from the forest.

The official also stressed the effectiveness of the firefighting system: "The container has gas to put out the flames and prevent them from spreading.". Smoke escaped from the roof. This is an industrial site and the risk of fire is present but manageable. Firefighters did not attack the fire because water is not recommended for burning lithium batteries. "We set up a protective curtain around the container," the firefighters described. Amarenco, the owner of the project, had to analyze the water recovered from the bottom of the burned container.

It is reported that the energy storage power station at the site of the accident is undergoing commissioning and will be put into operation in October this year. The power station is provided by Amarenco, a local private energy producer. In the past few months, the battery pack has been gradually put into operation.

According to the previous demonstration photos of the project, it is located near the transmission network substation and a photovoltaic power generation matrix operated by RTE.

Earlier, Amarenco responded to a tender from RTE, the transmission grid subsidiary of French electricity group EDF. The objective of the project is to ensure the security of electricity supply at the national level. Private companies have a seven-year guarantee on electricity prices, regardless of market conditions. Amarenco must provide the electricity stored at Saucats during the peak winter consumption period. Amarenco is developing a project of around 75 megawatts, "which will make the Claudia power plant the largest in France and one of the largest in Europe," the group said in the specialist publication.