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New research from Germany shows that home batteries are much less likely to be affected by fires than electric vehicles and most household appliances. However, researchers warned that fires in residential storage systems can be more dangerous than those caused by clothes dryers. The likelihood of a home storage system (HSS) fire is 50 times lower than that of a general house fire and 18 times lower than that of an internal combustion engine (ICE), according to new research from Germany. Researchers analyzed fires occurring at HSS and compared them with other common incidents, such as fires involving photovoltaic systems, electric vehicles, vehicles with internal combustion engines, general residential fires, and fires caused by household appliances. The annual probability of a residential electrical fire was calculated using the total number of homes in Germany. The researchers explained that there is currently no scientific data on fire incidents at HSS in Germany, which led them to use web crawlers such as Talkwalker and Neticle/Youscan to gather information from local press and fire department reports available online. To ensure the reliability of the identified incidents, each report undergoes a cross-validation process by cross-referencing it with independent sources, such as various news articles, they noted. In addition, a thorough verification is conducted in each case to ensure the fire was caused by a HSS. They cautioned, however, that data collection was hampered by Germanys strict privacy standards and inconsistent data collection practices across government. Their analysis revealed six fire incidents at HSS in 2022, compared to 32 incidents in 2023. Most cases were recorded in the regions of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, where the majority of the countrys installed PV capacity is concentrated. At the end of 2023, there were around 820,000 HSS installed in Germany. The scientists calculated the annual probability of fire in a HSS at 0.005%, which is roughly the same as that of a clothes dryer fire, which is 0.0037%. The probability of fire in a photovoltaic system was 0.0014%. “The probability of fires in refrigeration units alone (0.0012% per year) is four times lower than that of a fire in HSS,” they added. Despite these figures, the studys authors cautioned that fires in HSS can be more dangerous than those in clothes dryers. “Unlike household appliances, HSS contain stored electrical energy, which can lead to thermal runaway events, high-temperature fires, and potentially hazardous gas emissions,” they added. “This fundamental difference means that while the likelihood of a fire in HSS is lower than that of a general residential fire, the potential consequences can be more severe.” Their findings can be seen in the study “ Quantitative fire likelihood assessment of battery home storage systems in comparison to general house fires in Germany and other battery-related fires,” published in the Journal of Energy Storage . |
