Careers & Education

SFPE Foundation Awards Research Grant on Energy Storage System Hazards

Oct. 16, 2024

The main objective of this research is to review existing data, research studies, and historical failure events to identify fire and explosion hazards associated with BESS technology.

The research team will collaboratively work with the SFPE Foundation and its technical review panel throughout the entire project.

October 14, 2024: GAITHERSBURG, Maryland – The SFPE Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to enhancing the scientific understanding of fire and its interaction with the social, natural, and built environments, proudly announces the funding of research into Energy Storage System Hazards in alignment with its commitment to the Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI) research agenda, specifically the priorities outlined in the GCI Energy & Infrastructure white paper.

“Funding made possible through the Grand Challenges Initiative and the GCI Partner organizations has enabled us to support this much-needed research,” stated Leslie Marshall, PhD, Director, SFPE Foundation. “After this work is completed, we expect to have a deeper understanding of how ESS fires and related hazards compare to other industrial and storage fires.”

Project Title: Energy Storage System (ESS) Hazards

Project team:

Noah L. Ryder, PhD, PE, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC, Chief Operating Officer
Prof. Grunde Jomaas, ERA Chair Holder and Head of Department for Fire-safe Sustainable Built Environment at ZAG
Jim Milke PhD, PE, FSFPE, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC, Senior Principal Engineer
Bishoy N. Awad, Ph.D., PMSFPE, PMP®, ITC, BCIN, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC, Senior Fire Protection Engineer
Karli Steranka, P.E., Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC, Senior Fire Protection Engineer
Lauren Gagnon, PhD, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC, Fire Protection Consultant
Ulises Rojas-Alva, PhD, Department for Fire-safe Sustainable Built Environment at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG), Research Associate

“We are proud and honored to be selected as co-recipients of an SFPE Foundation project. We are extremely excited that this project will enable us to collaborate with the experts from Fire & Risk Alliance on such a timely topic as BESS fire safety,” Grunde Jomaas, PhD (FRISSBE, ZAG)

The main objective of this research is to review existing data, research studies, and historical failure events to identify fire and explosion hazards associated with BESS technology. Upon project completion, the information will be dispersed to the fire protection design, fire engineering, and fire service communities to provide more accurate guidance on fire protection design. Comprehensive information on BESS hazards will also be used to compare the effects of BESS fire and explosion events to other industrial fires. The research team will collaboratively work with the SFPE Foundation and its technical review panel throughout the entire project.

To achieve the desired goals, the team will conduct the following tasks:

Literature Review
Identify Fire & Explosion Hazards for BESS Technologies
BESS vs Industrial Fire and Explosion Hazard Comparisons
Identify Mitigating Technologies and Approaches

"We are thrilled to be a co-recipient of the SFPE Foundation project. ESS play an increasingly vital role in meeting the world's growing clean energy needs and in ensuring resiliency in our communities. This project will provide valuable resources to the general public and the fire engineering community to safely develop and deploy ESS. We look forward to working with our partners at FRISSBE and the Foundation to make this project a success." Noah L Ryder, PhD, PE (Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC)

The SFPE Foundation’s Grand Challenges Initiative is led by experts serving on four working groups and made possible with the financial support of SFPE, Fire Safety Research Institute/UL Research Institutes, Code Red Consultants, FM, Harrington Group, Jensen Hughes, and additional corporate, academic, and research partners. This project, in particular, benefits from support provided by Code Red Consultants, Fisher Engineering, LMDG, Sparc Fire Protection Engineering, and UL Research Institutes’ Electrochemical Safety Research Institute.

For a full description of the project, click here.

About the SFPE Foundation:

Established in 1979, the SFPE Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on enhancing the scientific understanding of fire and its interaction with the social, natural, and built environments through strategic investments in students, research, and knowledge transfer. Learn more at sfpe.org/foundation.