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Australia's Biggest Tesla Battery Storage System at Moorabool is on FIRE

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EEVblog:
Australia's Biggest Tesla Battery Storage System at Moorabool is on FIRE!  :scared:
The 450MWh plant wasn't operational yet, it was still being tested.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-30/tesla-battery-fire-moorabool-geelong/100337488
https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-megapack-container-on-fire-at-site-of-australias-biggest-battery/

Ian.M:
Hmm.  You'd have thought that they'd have spaced the containers out a bit more to reduce the risk of fire spreading.   Its a green field site so the cost of say 50% more land would probably be a small part of the total budget . . .

It seems Tesla Megapacks don't come with built-in fire suppression!

Its already breaking news on select tech sites worldwide e.g. https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/30/tesla_battery_on_fire/

Edit: Tesla Megapack (summary) datasheet: https://impulsora.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ficha-Tecnica-Mega-Pack.pdf

fourtytwo42:
I wonder how they are going to deal with all the toxic waste from that one, quietly bury it on the adjacent farmland ?

Gyro:

--- Quote ---"If we try and cool them down it just prolongs the process," the CFA's Assistant Chief Fire Officer Ian Beswicke said.

"But we could be here anywhere from 8 to 24 hours while we wait for it to burn down."
--- End quote ---

I guess the 'don't use water unless you have lots of water' electric car fire strategy just breaks down when you have a 13 tonne battery to contend with!

I'm a bit surprised they're not trying to cool down adjacent cabinets though. I'd expect them to suffer some thermal damage too, time will tell I guess.

Berni:
Whops that must have been pretty expensive.

Tho i don't see why they wouldn't cover the other batteries with water. Sure it doesn't sounds like a good idea to put out the fire on this battery, its probably just gonna keep burning and its all toxic scrap now anyway. But giving the surrounding batteries a light shower of water sounds like it could go a long way in making sure they are still fine. For example the white front panels on the next battery across the row already turned black so they must be getting rather toasty. I'm sure a bit of water would go a long way for bringing the temperature of those panels down. The batteries are outside so they must survive rain anyway.

Perhaps it was more of a safety concern that none of the firefighters wanted wet mud around the burning battery becoming a shocking hazard. Don't think that would ever actually happen but firefighters are trained not to fuck with giant lithium batteries... for a good reason.

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