Battery Energy Storage System Layers of Protection
While the occurrence of battery fires caused by thermal runaway in a battery energy storage system (BESS) is still relatively unlikely, the increasing number of deployed BESS – especially into populated areas – makes the threat of these incidents very real. An example of this is the BESS fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant in January 2025, which led to the evacuation of more than 1000 Californians.
Some of these BESS installments are either protected by water or chemical agent suppression systems, or fires are responded to by local fire departments. Test data and anecdotal evidence has proven these methods are ineffective at eliminating battery fires, and the chance for reignition is high.
However, several ‘layers of protection’ are available and recommended by NFPA 855, which include thermal runaway propagation protection (or thermal management), explosion control, gas detection, and more.
This white paper explores each of these layers of protection, including Fike’s proprietary thermal management solution, Fike Blue, that is proven to suppress cascading thermal runaway.
Download the white paper to learn more.