Safety

Case Study - New York State Interagency Fire Safety Working Group WG A number of BESS fires occurred in NYC during early and mid 2023, prompting the creation of an inter-agency working group WP) aimed at investigating three high-profile fire events and creating a review of relevant Codes, Standards, and Regulations. The goal was to recommend changes to the fire regulation and safety landscape. After feedback from public and industry safety leaders, a Notice of Rule in Development was made public in July 2024. The full list of recommendations and changes can be found here. Some key recommendations for BESS systems 600 kWh) were:

CODE

CHANGES

FCNYS 1206.8

Requirement of industry-funded independent peer reviews for all BESS projects.

FCNYS 1206.7.1

On-call personnel with knowledge of installation must be available for dispatch within 15 minutes and able to arrive on-scene within 4 hrs in case of a BESS Fire.

FCNYS 1206.11.8

Extending safety signage requirements beyond the BESS unit.

FCNYS 1206.2

No more BESS project fire code exemptions for utility-owned BESS projects.

FCNYS 12.07.05.4

Centralization of station service alarm for monitoring of fire detection systems for all BESS installations.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.