Fire Protection Analysis: The Renewable Energy Sector

Many applications in the field of renewable energies require fire protection systems (fire extinguishers).

In this article, we describe in detail the applications, performance, and suitability of fire protection systems for photovoltaic, energy storage, and wind power.

Wind Power Fire Protection

Now, new energy is developing rapidly, and fire protection in the field of new energy will be the focus, all kinds of enterprises around the world have begun to focus on developing renewable energy products, the products include lithium batteries, lithium-ion battery packs, solar panel, inverter, energy storage container, UPS power, power supply, portable power station, wind power generator, electric vehicle, charging pile, hydrogen energy, nuclear energy etc.

In short, the main industries of renewable energy can be summarized as “wind energy, solar energy, energy storage and automobiles”, namely “wind power”, “photovoltaic”, “energy storage” and “automobiles”. Wind power, photovoltaic and energy storage belong to the power generation field, while automobiles belong to the consumption field.

The main equipment in the wind power generation industry is the wind turbine. Wind turbines are not only expensive to build, but also have difficulties in terms of fire prevention. People usually install ABC dry chemical powder fire extinguishers and aerosol fire extinguishers in wind power generation systems. The dry powder system is installed in the wind turbine nacelle for total flooding protection. While the aerosol system can protect the electrical cabinets inside the tower and on the base.

Photovoltaic Fire Protection

As for photovoltaic, it mainly consists of solar batteries, controllers, panels, junction boxes, combiner boxes, inverters, and solar panels. inverters are the main components that need fire protection, because they often get hot, and they are electrical components.

According to our observation and discovery, an aerosol fire extinguishing system is the best choice for photovoltaic solar energy.

In China, in fact that the most common type of photovoltaic fire extinguishing system is aerosol.

Energy Storage Fire Protection

Energy storage has only become popular in recent years, there are many upstream and downstream products involved, for example, mining equipment for lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other mineral resources, Battery and battery materials, new energy vehicles, charging piles, energy storage container system, UPS power, micro module cabinet.

The energy storage system has high requirements for fire extinguishing agents, so it is difficult to choose an ideal fire extinguisher. According to the research of foreign research institutions, the aerosol, the heptafluoropropane, and the NOVEC 1230 systems are better choices.

Fire protection for small Spaces, using aerosols to save installation space. For fire extinguishing in large Spaces, heptafluoropropane and FK5112 are more economical.

Fire Protection for Electric Vehicles and Electric Vehicle Related Products

As for vehicles, It is a consumer products, there are many new energy consumer products, such as charging piles, new energy vehicles, portable power stations, on-grid and off-grid solar systems, and so on, all these products are also electrical equipment, they usually need fire protection to avoid from getting thermal runaway.

Selection of Different Fire Protection Systems

Currently, there are several main types of fire extinguishing systems (extinguishing agents) for the new energy industry:

• Aerosol.
• Heptafluoropropane.
• NOVEC 1230.

The advantages of aerosols are non-pressure storage, no need for pipe network installation, and have high safety factor. Heptafluoropropane has the advantage of high fire extinguishing efficiency. The advantage of NOVEC 1230 is that it is more environmentally friendly than FM200, and the fire extinguishing efficiency is also very good.

The usual choices are:

• For small spaces, such as an electrical cabinet, lithium battery, meter box, charging power station, inverter, etc, use an aerosol system.
• For bigger spaces, such as energy storage rooms, mining equipment, power generation rooms, etc, use the FM200 system or NOVEC 1230 system.
• Some places were not able to use FM200, NOVEC 1230, and aerosol, so we chose to use the ABC dry chemical powder system instead.

Of course, we need to analyze the specific situation based on the actual installation environment.

Fire protection is not an easy task, which involves budget, design, construction, and installation.

Therefore, we need to select appropriate fire extinguishing products according to the actual situation.

Green Renewable Energy and Fire Protection

Green renewable energy is the trend of future development, world-famous companies are vigorously deploying new energy businesses, and the business scope includes power generation equipment, power transformation and distribution equipment, fire protection, energy storage, etc Who can enter the new energy bureau first, and who can benefit earlier?

Energy storage fire protection is an industry that combines fire protection and new energy, and it is currently a trend all around the world.

We need to protect the lithium battery in the energy storage cabinet(container) well and select suitable fire extinguishing agents for it.

For the selected energy storage fire extinguishing agent, we require that it not only be able to extinguish fire, but also not damage the lithium battery and pollute the environment.

Currently, the vast majority of fire extinguishing systems on the market are not suitable for the protection of new energy products, especially lithium batteries in the field of energy storage. Through research, we find out that most of our fire suppression systems are not successful in extinguishing fires in lithium batteries, battery boxes, and energy storage cabinets.

Selection and Types of Energy Storage Fire Extinguishing Systems

After continuous exploration, new energy companies and research institutes have found that 3 types of fire extinguishing systems can be used as fire protection solutions for energy storage:

• Aerosol fire suppression systems.
• HFC-227ea gas or NOVEC 1230 systems.
• ABC dry chemical systems.

Aerosol systems are typically installed within lithium battery packs to protect each pack individually. In contrast, HFC-227ea/NOVEC 1230 gas and ABC dry-chemistry systems are typically installed in the energy storage containers(cabinets) along with a fire alarm system and pipework.

In fact, in the new energy (renewable industry), the best fire protection solutions are aerosol systems, piped HFC-227ea gas (or NOVEC 1230 gas), and fire alarm systems.

Their main roles are as follows:

• Fire Alarm System – detects fire and automatically activates the fire suppression system.
• HFC-227ea or NOVEC 1230 gas systems – extinguish fires in larger container spaces.
• Aerosol extinguisher Units – protect lithium batteries, battery packs, Battery cabinets, and inverters.

HFC-277ea system or NOVEC 1230 system is generally larger with bottles and pipe network, mainly used in energy storage containers. so we usually ask customers to provide layout drawings or site photos during installation.

Aerosol fire extinguishers, especially lithium-ion battery fire extinguishers, are small in size, are mainly used in battery packs and cabinets.

In the future, fire protection in the new energy sector will be diverse, featuring multi-oxidation platforms, a wide range of fire protection facilities, and a variety of fire extinguishing agents. Let’s wait and see.