On Tuesday, the Australian safety regulator approved the resumption of testing of the “Victoria Large Battery” energy storage project operated by the French renewable energy company Neoen and using the Tesla Megapack system, which is one of the world‘s largest battery energy storage projects.The project had a fire at the end of July this year. The fire burned for four days. The accident did not cause any casualties. Tesla CEO Musk tweeted after the accident that it was “Prometheus Unbound.”
Energy Safe Victoria, Australia, said in a report released on Tuesday that the cause of the fire had been identified and was caused by a coolant leak that was not discovered during the start-up test.
The agency also said that it will determine whether there are any violations of the state’s electrical safety regulations, and “if so, whether law enforcement action is necessary.”
Investigations by several institutions in Victoria found that the Megapack fire was caused by a short circuit in two places. The cause of the short circuit may be the leakage of coolant outside the battery compartment.
The short circuit occurs when the Megapack is turned off after the initial test, which removes the fault protection. This means that the fault was not found and the fire spread to the adjacent battery pack.
Neoen said that it is working with Tesla to ensure that this 450 MWh energy storage project is ready in the summer of Australia, that is, in December this year. Testing will resume on Wednesday.
Neoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy said: “We have taken time to understand the cause of the accident and we have taken action to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.”
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