1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,480 Speaker 1: Energy storage is important for the continued rollout of clean energy. However, 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: a series of twenty nine fires at battery storage facilities 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: in South Korea since just have called their safety into question. 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: The research note behind today's episode is titled Ensuring Safe 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: Use of Lithium Ion Batteries and it can be found 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: at BENF dot com, at b NF go on the 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: Bloomberg terminal, or via the b NF app. Just as 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: a quick reminder, BENNF does not provide investment or strategy advice, 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: and we have a complete disclaimer at the end of 10 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: the show. I am Dana Perkins, and you're listening to 11 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Switched on the ben EF podcast. I'm joined today 12 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: by Yi Sine and she leads b NFS researched on 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: decentralized energy, alongside James Frith, who leads our research on 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:54,639 Speaker 1: energy storage. Let's hear from our guests. Yea YOI thank 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Thank you for having me 16 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: and James, thank you for being on Switched on Hi Data, 17 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: Thank for having me. So let's start at the very 18 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: beginning here. What inspired you guys are actually got you 19 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: guys to think that this was an important thing? To 20 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: start researching and looking at now, which is a lot 21 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: of the battery fires for a stationary storage in South Korea. Yeah, 22 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: I can take that just to kick off and give 23 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: some context. The energy storage market is clearly growing quite rapidly. 24 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: In particular, Korea has been a leading market in terms 25 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: of total deployment in the world over the past two 26 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: to three years. This year is probably going to fall 27 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: off the ranks. But in that context, the market growing 28 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: so rapidly also means that there is I suppose some 29 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: slowness with regards to safety regulation or to safety certification 30 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: that has to kind of keep up with the place 31 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: of development of the market, and in Korea in particular, 32 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: that that has been an issue because we've seen multiple 33 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: fires by this year. UM and in May we actually 34 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: walk Korea experience the twenty nine better fire incidents, which 35 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: is quite alarming. So twenty nine different fires in different 36 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: installations in Korea. UM. So that really comes put into 37 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: question the development of the industry and what has to 38 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,239 Speaker 1: be done to ensure that we're deploying safe energy storage systems. 39 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: And this is twenty nine fires across you said two years. Yes, 40 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: since seen at least in Korea, we've seen that these 41 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: incidents happening, and I guess in context, what we saw 42 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: was a market that really boomed at the back of 43 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: really generous subsidies in the market, which meant that a 44 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: lot of like generally and experienced developers or integrators were 45 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: were essentially rushing to to build out a lot of 46 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: battery projects in the country, which also led to kind 47 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: of rush on the edges to actually deploy these systems. UM. 48 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: And at the back of that, of course, we've we've 49 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: ended up seeing a sad a sad outcome around around 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: the battery fires. So we're gonna be speaking specifically about 51 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: South Koreatia today. I mean, I guess it's more of 52 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: a case study. But have there been fires elsewhere that 53 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: are notable that provide context as well. Yeah, So I 54 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: think the reason why, in particular, I guess at the 55 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: twenty five at twenty nine incidents, this becomes particularly relevant. 56 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: But I think what's more relevant contemporarily is Arizona Public 57 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: Service or utility in Arizona here in the US, they 58 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: released a reports regarding a battery fire that they had 59 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,079 Speaker 1: last year in April and UM and the results of that, 60 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: I think we're quite um, we're quite helpful for us 61 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: to understand the context of safety and certifications, not just 62 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: in Korea, but elsewhere as well. So that's kind of 63 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: why we wanted to bring that conversation here today. I 64 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: think one thing to kind of just jump in and 65 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: add as well is that, um, you know, I think 66 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: I think we kind of are talking about battery fires 67 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: focusing on Korea. Obviously there's the a p S one 68 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: Energy had a battery fire one of the islet testing 69 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: facilities as well, and it gets a lot of well 70 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: in the battery community and the en George community, it 71 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: gets a lot of attention. But actually the twenty nine 72 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: five that we're talking about in Korea effect you know, 73 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: roughly about five percent of the total deployed capacity. So 74 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: although you know, it's a lot of attention, it's actually 75 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: a readatively small amount of kind of deployed projects or affected. 76 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: So James and this brings us to a good point 77 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: for us to try and understand why do we think 78 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: that these fires are happening. I mean, even within that 79 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,040 Speaker 1: five percent, ideally they're very difficult to put out and 80 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: people really don't want these to be happening. So I 81 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: suppose diagnosing what could be the issue is probably step one. 82 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: Can you provide us with some insight there? Yes, certainly, 83 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: And I guess this is the kind of the million 84 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: dollar question. And I guess I kind of literally mean 85 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: that because there's obviously, you know, huge kind of insurance 86 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: liabilities associated with these fires, um and determining you know, 87 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: what the causes actually influences you know, who whose insurance 88 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: or who is liable for you know, the project catching 89 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: fire in the kind of any you know, resulting costs 90 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: that the recurring products. And I think there's kind of 91 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: I suppose a couple of the things to look at here. 92 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: There obviously reports off the back of the fires and Korea, 93 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: but as the AO mentioned, there was recently, you know, 94 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: the the APS fire report that was published about a 95 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: month or so ago, which was quite enlightening, should we say, 96 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: in the kind of cause of the fire. But just 97 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: starting with the Korean fires, obviously, you know the twenty 98 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: nine fires there, there's a lot of work was done 99 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: on that to try and understand, you know, what caused them. 100 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: And while that work was going on, you know, there 101 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: were certain safety measures put in place by the you know, 102 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: the authorities in Korea to try and prevent this from happening. 103 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: You know, one part of that was limiting the capacity 104 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: of the storage systems that could be used. About the 105 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: total capacity. It is actually just as they lifted those 106 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: regulations that we had the fire earlier this year in May, 107 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: so that's quite interesting to see. But off the back 108 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: of the kind of fires in Korea, there's a report 109 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: that came out and identified I guess four key areas 110 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: that could be behind these fires, and just to kind 111 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: of run through them them quite quickly and then I 112 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: can dive into a bit more detail. The first thing 113 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: that they identified was exposure to humidity. Obviously, moisture and 114 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: electronics don't mix that well. Moisture in the inside of 115 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: batteries mixed even worse. So that's the first thing that 116 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: they identified. The next thing would then be kind of 117 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: defectory defective battery cells or modules kind of building on 118 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: the detector cell. I guess, you know, they said that 119 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: potentially there could have been external damage caused to the 120 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: either the system or the cells and modules during construction. 121 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: And finally, you know, it's possible that the battery management 122 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: system was faulty and didn't control the systems within the 123 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: kind of parameters that they were meant to. So this 124 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: was kind of what was identified in the Korean fire incidents. 125 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: And actually that kind of covers the full value chain 126 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: from cell manufacturer down to kind of integrator and indeed 127 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: battery operator. So there's a range of different areas to 128 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: look at there, and also you know, off the back 129 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: of that different recommendations on how you could prevent this 130 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: from happening again, you know, leading on from the defective 131 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: battery cell, and this is what a lot of people 132 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: suspected could be behind it, because you know, although there 133 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: is a huge amount of safety considerations that go into 134 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: designing batteries and building the cells themselves and modules are 135 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: packed and everything else, you know, you essentially have a 136 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: lot of energy contained within earty in mind battery and 137 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: if something goes wrong with that battery, it can it 138 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: can kind of get out of hand pretty quickly. Could 139 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: you explain really quickly what out of hand means? Because 140 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: I know that you know, for everybody listening, I know 141 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: they're very difficult to put out, so you can't just 142 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: have a fire truck come up and throw some water 143 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: on it. But what else does out of hand mean 144 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: in this context, yes, certainly. So at the kind of 145 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: base level, you have to consider the chemistry and particularly 146 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: chemistry the cathode to understand the kind of safety requirements 147 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: and implications of Littingman battery. There's essentially two families of 148 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: cathode chemistries that are used. You have your nickels based 149 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:33,120 Speaker 1: cathodes and your misty mind phosphate based cathodes. So the 150 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: nickel based cathodes are considered to be high energy, don't see. 151 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: They have what's called kind of transition metal oxide based materials, 152 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: and what happens is when the material itself is heated 153 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: above a certain point, you find that oxygen start to 154 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: be evolved from that cathode material. So the listeman phosphate materials, 155 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: there is oxygen in there, but it's locked in in 156 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: what's called a kind of phosphate an iron, and it's 157 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: hard u for that oxygen to be released. You have 158 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,319 Speaker 1: to go to kind of higher temperatures. So with the 159 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: nickel based material, once that oxygen starts being released, once 160 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: it gets hot enough and actually kind of oxygen is 161 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: just released from the cathode, that's what then can cause 162 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: the Litta mind battery fire to fuel itself. If you know, 163 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: even in the case of adding water from a firefighter, 164 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: for example, some people out there, you know, might be 165 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 1: familiar with I think they call them cherry bombs in 166 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: the US, where you can chuck them in water and 167 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 1: the fuse will still burn. It will it will kind 168 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: of go bang at the end. And you know, that's 169 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: the kind of self propagation that you get with the 170 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: lity mind battery. It feeds its own kind of fire. 171 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter if this water, it's still gonna 172 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: keep going. So on the topic of preventing these from happening, 173 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:49,559 Speaker 1: there is a lot of attention on trying to figure 174 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: out which one or maybe all four of the potential 175 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: causes is actually the primary cause of these fires. What's 176 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: then happening from a regulatory stand point, because presumably there 177 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: is a place that in terms of trying to ensure 178 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: safety for the end consumer, since you know five percent 179 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: of these actually are catching fire, that the government maybe 180 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: has to play in South Korea, and and what do 181 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: you see coming down the pipe? Yeah, I can, I 182 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: can give some contexts there. So I mentioned something earlier, 183 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: which is the industry tends to develop and because it's 184 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: such a new industry, it's it's developing at a more 185 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: rapid pace than certifications and often regulations, so it's a 186 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: bit of a game of trying to catch up with 187 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: the pace of growth UM and responding quite quickly when 188 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: incidents happened. In the case of Korea, for example, what 189 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: they immediately immediately did was stop issuing some new permits 190 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: for new projects, and then at the back of that 191 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: also required that the existing and operating facilities reduced their 192 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,599 Speaker 1: operating parameters. So essentially you're not charging it up to 193 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: or probably you're you're only charging it up to or, 194 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: which is a bit of a problem as well, because 195 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: the way the incentive systems might be designed might might 196 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: actually favor projects actually operating at a higher higher operating range, 197 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: which isn't great. But they try to kind of compensate 198 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 1: for that as well, so there's kind of that immediate 199 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: response that that has to happen. Then kind of secondarily 200 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: is okay, so now we have to review all the 201 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: safety standards that are in place, make adjustments, and UM 202 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: kind of push it out to the industry as a requirement. 203 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: And these requirements tend to be either i a international 204 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: or be local, so international in the sense of there 205 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: are a few international bodies issuing certification so I e. 206 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: SE and and UEL as well, So they essentially set 207 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 1: up of different certification metrics or certification standards for different 208 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:50,719 Speaker 1: parts of the system as well as the system as 209 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: a whole. UH and and essentially battery developers or system 210 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: integrators are trying to get their systems certified by these 211 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: body is that generally have certifications that are accepted across 212 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: different markets. At a more local level and perhaps at 213 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: a more dramatic level, you might see something like New 214 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: York City having much more restrictive certification and safety requirements, 215 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 1: which might actually mean you it just takes too much 216 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: longer for you to get the permits and all the 217 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: additional paperwork that you might need to to actually get 218 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: the systems installed in the first place. And are they 219 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: certification systems essentially leading to more reliable units being installed, 220 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: So I mean they're more compliance with the safety certifications 221 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: that have evolved over time. So in a way, yes, 222 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: they are more safe than probably what you would have 223 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: seen installed five years ago. There's a general recognition in 224 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: the industry that there's still work to be done UM 225 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: and a lot of it is is kind of trial 226 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: and error as well, and trial and error error not 227 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: necessarily meaning a battery fire, but but definitely doing a 228 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: lot more testing and understanding kind of the operations of 229 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 1: in place. And you mentioned certification and actually the South 230 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: Korean government noting that they are not installing anymore at 231 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: least for the time being until the figure out kind 232 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: of I guess what the problem is. And the next 233 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: question I have on that is are these units being 234 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: exported to other countries and is this a fairly robust 235 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,679 Speaker 1: international marketplace for these that's kind of originating in South Korea. Yeah, 236 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: I'll just correct that they positive for for a period 237 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: period of time, which is when they were basically doing 238 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: the investigation to understand the group causes for the battery fires, 239 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: after which they essentially issued new rules that new battery 240 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: projects have to comply with UM and then reopened permits 241 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: for new new project development. So since then there has 242 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,719 Speaker 1: been additional projects kind of being permitted. Okay, so we're 243 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: back on good Yeah, I know, But but I will 244 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: say that the twenty ninth battery fire incidents happened in 245 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: the context of kind of the new regulations in place, 246 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: So it's it's a bit of a blow in the 247 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: industry in that sense. But regardless, I think on your 248 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 1: points in question regarding exports of batteries and the role 249 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: of Korean manufacturers overseas is I think, for for a 250 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: lot of time, especially because Korea was that kind of 251 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: first moving, bigger market in the world, we had thought 252 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: of the battery fires as erroneously probably as a potential 253 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: career problem, which is why in the context of the 254 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: APS for battery incidents this became more relevant. So, yeah, 255 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: l G CAM times, I guess see, I a lot 256 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: of the Korean players are major players in the global 257 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: market and supply battery modules too, larger utility scale, and 258 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: the animator projects globally as well. It's in a way 259 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: there was a lot of concern any company or developer 260 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: who was integrating a storage system if they really cared 261 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: about what was happening in Korea one among these twenty 262 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: nine fires. And I guess the yeah, you're saying, it's 263 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: across the industry. So my question has to do with 264 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: which companies are associated with these fires. Is there a 265 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: correlation between a few or is it just kind of 266 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: across the lithium ion universe. If you will. I mean, 267 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: I think we can be specific with with what we know. 268 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: So just to give an example, and I know, we 269 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: keep going back to the APS facility. So the APS 270 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: facility was integrated by FLUENCE, which is a joint venture 271 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: between a S and semens that particular facility, and these 272 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: are all publicly disclosed information. That facility used ALGICM batteries, 273 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: and so I mean, you could try to put your 274 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: finger and say this is an algacam problem. But as 275 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: you like, from reading the report, you'll see it's not 276 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: just about the battery cells themselves. The safety of a 277 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: system entails a lot of components that within them is 278 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: ensuring the batteries it's safe. But as James kind of 279 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: broke down in the in the career example, you have 280 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: to ensure all the other elements are in place as well. 281 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: So you have to have some form of suppression system 282 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: which is appropriate for batteries and not necessarily just for 283 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: a regular fire. So looking into this, surely there are 284 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: some things that sort of came to your mind. And 285 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: I know that you know we're researchers and we are 286 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: not regulators, but what recommendations would you say that you 287 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: guys have for the industry, and how would you like 288 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: to see this carried forward. I mean, it's it's an 289 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: interesting question. I think what we certainly don't want to 290 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: see is the industry being derailed by what is a 291 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: relatively kind of limited problem. You know. I think we 292 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: talked about the twenty nine fives in Korea in particular. Okay, 293 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: there's the example of APS in the US and the 294 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: Energy's pilot plant, but generally, you know, listening miland battery 295 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: project kind of are fine and we don't see these fires, 296 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: and so you know, I think it's more that we 297 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 1: shouldn't scare the industry off and put people from buildings 298 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: these but just being more aware of, Okay, what what 299 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: are the risks and how can we prevent this from happening? 300 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: And I think for me, you know, the main risk 301 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: is this issue of list of mind battery being able 302 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 1: to kind of sustain its own or propagate its own fire. 303 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: So really it's about thinking of how you how you 304 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 1: can kind of mitigate that from happening. So what improved 305 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: fire fighting techniques can you you put in there? And 306 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: one of the things that people often highlight is being 307 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: able to cool the cells down more so you can't 308 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: put it out with water, but if you can take 309 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: the energy away from that cell, it won't get so 310 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,159 Speaker 1: hot that it will release oxygen. And so people are 311 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: looking at using what's called liquid cooling in spacially storage projects, 312 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 1: and this is something that's used in electric vehicles already, 313 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: but to date, generally saciary storage projects have used kind 314 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: of air conditioning systems essentially because it's cheaper and easier 315 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: to install. But I think we'll probably move in the 316 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: direction where we see more of these liquid cooling systems 317 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: coming into place. Can I just make a comments under 318 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: liquid cooling versus air cord systems UM? And this is 319 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: more of a person or anecdotes. So we talked about 320 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: the APS facility, and actually, like four days before the 321 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: fire incidents in the APS facility, I had visited the 322 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: sister facility, which is kind of like very similar respects 323 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: to the one that actually had the battery and the 324 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,400 Speaker 1: battery fire incident, which is kind of scary actually because 325 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,199 Speaker 1: it was like just four days after and then I 326 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: was like, I was just at a facility that was 327 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: very similar to it, but just to give you kind 328 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: of a mental image of what that's like, It's a 329 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: facility that's pretty much located in a very desert like zone, 330 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:36,239 Speaker 1: so it's in the middle of a lot of like 331 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,439 Speaker 1: sands um It's close ish, but you you only in 332 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: the distance, could see like neighbor a specific neighborhood, which 333 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: is essentially what they were trying to test with the 334 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: battery facility. That particular neighborhood has a lot of rooftop solar, 335 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: so they were trying to test different things on their 336 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: distribution feeder, try different types of services with the batteries themselves. 337 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,639 Speaker 1: It's also from a temperature perspective, it's like forty plus 338 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: degrees in the summer at peak times see celsius more 339 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,199 Speaker 1: than a hundred fahrenheit, which I mean for me just 340 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 1: looking at that facility, if you imagine it wasn't it's 341 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: not a container. It's like a building system, but it's 342 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: like under a beating sun. And so what really struck 343 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: me going into that facility was actually the noise of 344 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 1: the fans. It was actually hard for you to like 345 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: talk to each other within the facility because there was 346 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: so many, so many of the fans that are located 347 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,239 Speaker 1: at the module level as well, that those are just 348 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: like ringing into your ear, So it's like quite loud. 349 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: So thermal management on a consistent basis obviously is important, 350 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: but it's also quite interesting to see if we moved 351 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: towards a liquid cooling system, maybe we don't see as 352 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: loud systems as as the one I visited. Okay, let's 353 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 1: let's continue to go down that road. Take my mind 354 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: to this physical space. How big is it physically? And 355 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: then secondly, how much capacity does it actually store? Like 356 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: how meaningful are these is a part of the grid. Yeah, 357 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: maybe I'm painted it as a bigger facility than it 358 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,920 Speaker 1: actually is. So it's a two megawat too megawat our 359 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: system physically we can look at at the checks I 360 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: don't off the top of my head, but it's more 361 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 1: or less imagine like a container, um a little bigger 362 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: than a container in case like essentially, yeah, you imagine 363 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: a container with like walls built around that container. That's 364 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: essentially kind of the size of the facility. So it's 365 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: technically not a big facility compared to a lot of 366 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: the large scale storage systems that we're starting to see 367 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,360 Speaker 1: come online today and in the coming years. So it's 368 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: fairly small in that sense. We're talking specifically in this 369 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,400 Speaker 1: context really though again about South Korea, but there are 370 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: definitely other manufacturers that are looking to play a bigger 371 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: role in this space, so specifically within the battery manufacturing 372 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,360 Speaker 1: rather than the automotive manufacturing of liftium ion batteries. Can 373 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: you discuss maybe some of the other countries that might 374 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: be looking at this as a opportunity and maybe the 375 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: sorts of things they need to do or the sorts 376 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: of opportunities that are available to them. As there's those 377 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,399 Speaker 1: regulatory focus on the South Korean market, I think probably 378 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: the company or the countries to look at here is 379 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: the two large battery manufacturers are really Career and China 380 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 1: and Korea, or the Korean manufacturers produced these nickel based 381 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:23,359 Speaker 1: chemistries that I've mentioned, Whereas for the stationary storage market, 382 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: the Chinese manufacturers are trying to push lithium and phosphate 383 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: chemistry that I mentioned earlier, and lithium or some people 384 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: kind of consider lithium are and phosphate to be slightly 385 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: better suited for use in statory storage because it's kind 386 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 1: of not quite so prone to release oxygen as the 387 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: nickel based chemistries, and so it's it's kind of safety 388 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: performance is slightly better than than the nickel based chemistries. 389 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,919 Speaker 1: And so the Chinese company is trying to you know, 390 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 1: deploy this in the in the staciary storage market, and 391 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: actually at the same time they're trying to expand globally 392 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: because at the moment, the Chinese stationing storage manage factories 393 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: or manufacturers of batteries are very much focused on the 394 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: Chinese market, but they want to grow as as the 395 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: stationary storage market grows around the rest of the world 396 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: and the EV market, and so this awareness of the 397 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: kind of safety of stationary storage projects could be the 398 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: opportunity for Chinese manufacturers to kind of enter the global 399 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: storage market. That being said, you know, there's an increasing 400 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: focus on local manufacturing of batteries, and you know, although 401 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: companies generally fart off by talking about manufacturing batteries for 402 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,120 Speaker 1: ev s locally, if you have a battery manufacturing facility, 403 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: it could produce them to evs or equally, you could 404 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: start producing them to stationary storage as well. So we 405 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: could see you know, a shift in who's supplying cells 406 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: for statiary storage systems as a result of this. And 407 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: maybe this goes without saying but can you just for 408 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: our listeners some up quickly. Why you think it's important 409 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: for the stationary storage space to take off for the 410 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: rest of the grid. Perhaps, yeah, I think. I mean 411 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: it's a it's a pretty known story. I guess the 412 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: growth growth of renewables and the context of de carbonizing 413 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: our power system, part of that will require more flexibility 414 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 1: in the way we operate our systems because renewables essentially 415 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: aren't a flexible technology. That's essentially where batteries come in. 416 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,920 Speaker 1: Take advantage of dropping costs, you can start adding lower 417 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: cost systems um and so from from a grid empower 418 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: system perspective at energy storage to balance the variability of 419 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: the grid is kind of an important and increasingly important 420 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: part of how we're going to construct our our grid 421 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: of the future. Well on that night, Joy and James, 422 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: thank you very much for joining switched On today and 423 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: gears to hoping they figure out what is causing the 424 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: fires so we can see this important and critical industry 425 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: take off. Thank you day. Today's episode of Switched On 426 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: was edited by Rex Warner whom Graytak Media. Bloomberg an 427 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: e F is a service provided by Bloomberg Finance LP 428 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: and its affiliates. This recording does not constitute, nor should 429 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: it be construed, as investment advice, investment recommendations, or a 430 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 1: recommendation as to an investment or other strategy. Bloomberg an 431 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: EPP should not be considered as information sufficient upon which 432 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: to base an investment decision. Neither Bloomberg Finance LP nor 433 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: any of its affiliates makes any representation or warranty as 434 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in 435 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: this recording, and any liability as a result of this recording. 436 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:31,479 Speaker 1: Did express the disclip