Tesla Battery Catches Fire at Utility Storage Project in Australia

Fire crews wearing breathing equipment are “working to contain the fire and stop it spreading to nearby batteries,” while monitoring of air quality was ongoing to check against toxic smoke, Fire Rescue Victoria said.

The fire broke out where France’s Neoen SA is installing 210 Tesla Megapacks as part of a 300-megawatt battery storage project. When operational, the facility will store enough energy to power more than one million homes in Victoria for half an hour, according to the project’s website.

Tesla markets versions of its batteries for home use under the name Powerwall, and sells a version for use in utility-scale power storage under the name Megapack, in addition to using them in its cars. The utility batteries can be linked together in large configurations, loosely resembling blocks of shipping containers, to form large storage facilities capable of saving wind and solar energy for later use.

Energy generation and storage are a relatively small portion of Tesla’s business, generating about 7% of the company’s revenue in the second quarter.

Louis de Sambucy, Neoen Australia’s managing director, said the fire broke out during initial testing and that no one was injured. The company is working with Tesla and emergency services on site to manage the situation, he said.

A spokesperson for the Australian Energy Market Operator, which manages the nation’s electricity systems, said the site has been safely isolated from the grid.

“The incident hasn’t had any impact on supply across the national electricity market,” the spokesperson said.

Tesla representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company headed by billionaire Elon Musk earlier made a splash in Australia by promising to deliver an array of its batteries to create what was then billed as the world’s largest power grid battery system, after the country experienced serious blackouts. Mr. Musk promised to provide the units within 100 days of a signed contract or they would be free. Tesla made good on its promise, delivering the batteries in November of 2017.

Battery developers are deploying a growing number of lithium-ion projects to store large amounts of electricity around the world as wind and solar farms proliferate. Because renewable technologies produce power intermittently, batteries can help supply electricity after the sun sets, or when the wind stops blowing.

A number of companies have struggled with fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries. A grid-scale battery array near Phoenix caught fire and exploded in 2019.

General Motors Co. earlier this month recalled the electric Chevrolet Bolt for a second time because of a potential defect that can cause the batteries to catch on fire. It also asked owners of 2017-2019 models to park them outside after charging them.

Tesla’s battery-powered cars have also experienced some fires. In a fatal crash of a Tesla Model S in April in which two people died, it took emergency responders about four hours and roughly 32,000 gallons of water to completely put out the fire that at times engulfed the electric vehicle.

High-voltage batteries like the ones used in Teslas can reignite after being damaged, even after firefighters have extinguished a fire, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Write to David Winning at [email protected] and Katherine Blunt at [email protected]