Lithium-Ion Battery Storage (Fire Safety and Environmental Permits)

A battery fire can produce a cloud of dangerous gas—hydrogen fluoride, methane and carbon monoxide. If the vapour cloud from a battery fire meets an ignition point, it can explode, as happened in Arizona in 2019; fire officers tackling that battery fire suffered life-changing injuries when the unit exploded. That fire was far from unique. Thermal runaway events occur in almost every country in which battery storage is used. Even South Korea, a pioneer in the development of battery storage, experienced 23 major battery fires between 2017 and 2019. Nearer to home, in September 2020 a battery storage facility fire in a residential area in the constituency of the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Ian Byrne), a stone’s throw from a nursery, caused a violent explosion that blew debris up to 20 metres. It took 59 hours for the fire to be put out, during which residents were asked to keep their windows and doors closed because of the billowing smoke.

We need lithium-ion battery storage facilities, but they must be seen correctly for what they are: highly complex, with the potential to create dangerous events and hazardous substances. The good news is that we do not need new regulations; we simply need to better use the regulations we have. We already have robust legislation, the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2015 and the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015. My Bill would correctly apply those regulations to battery storage sites.

We have to heed warnings from experts such as Dr Wade Allison, professor of physics at Oxford University, who said that

“although batteries are essential to our world, naively multiplying them while ignoring safety questions is dangerous and negligent. That is what is happening. Large-scale battery energy storage systems should be classed as hazardous establishments in order to be regulated appropriately”.

By correctly categorising industrial lithium-ion batteries as hazardous, my Bill would ensure that the Environment Agency and the HSE were consulted during planning applications.

Furthermore, Phil Clark, the emerging energy technologies lead at the National Fire Chiefs Council, has called for

“developers to engage at the earliest opportunity with the local Fire and Rescue Services.”

He explains that

“the National Fire Chiefs Council are still learning about the potential impact of the exponential introduction of lithium batteries. Without an understanding of the risks and appropriate control measures required, we risk as a society creating the next legacy fire safety issue”—

his words, not mine. My Bill would make fire and rescue services statutory consultees for all battery storage facilities.

The evidence shows that the current regulations for lithium-ion battery storage facilities do not reflect the true risk. I urge the Government to support my Bill today and to announce an immediate review of those facilities that have already been constructed or that have planning consent, to ensure that they do not pose a threat to residents or the local environment.

I am not sure whether there is a Minister in place at the moment—maybe there is a Whip.