Energy Storage Batteries Become “Time Bombs”: Why Is LG Energy Always Involved?
Summary: Within just three months, LG Energy’s home energy storage batteries have been involved in two fire incidents in Germany, prompting another battery recall. However, the same series of energy storage batteries remains widely distributed across North America, Europe, and Australia, posing risks for thousands of households.
Recently, the issue of energy storage safety and technology adoption has come to the forefront following a series of fire and explosion incidents in the United States, Germany, and the UK. On February 18, the “world’s largest energy storage power station”—the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in the U.S.—experienced another fire, marking the fourth incident for this facility. Reports indicate that the energy storage cells used in this project are sourced from LG Energy.
On February 19, a residential photovoltaic energy storage system in Germany exploded, once again pointing to the South Korean lithium battery brand—LG Energy. The explosion occurred in a villa located in Schönberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where the shockwave blew off an entire wall. Fortunately, the villa’s owner was away on vacation at the time.
Preliminary investigations by the fire department suggested that the explosion was caused by the villa’s solar energy system storage unit. It is speculated that on a sunny day, the solar storage device became fully charged but failed to feed excess energy back into the grid, leading to overcharging and the subsequent explosion. A spokesperson for the state government emphasized that this was the first incident of its kind in the state, usually only occurring due to technical issues with the battery itself or its Battery Management System (BMS).
After the incident, the villa’s developer, the German construction company Viebrockhaus, confirmed to PV Magazine that an LG home energy storage battery had been “installed and regularly maintained” in the house built in 2020. This explosion marked the fifth year of the battery’s usage. A representative from Viebrockhaus stated that the company has been using LG Energy batteries in home storage systems since 2017 and plans to put all batteries from the same production series as the faulty one into standby mode while limiting the use of high-voltage batteries.
This is the second fire incident involving LG batteries in Germany within three months. Last November, a fire broke out in a basement of a house in Werne, North Rhine-Westphalia, also linked to a home photovoltaic storage system. This system was the S10 home storage system by E3/DC, which integrated LG Energy’s home storage batteries. E3/DC noted that this system had been in use since 2019, aligning with the timeline of the prior incident, both occurring five years after the batteries were put into service.
The firefighters faced a challenging situation as the flames re-ignited repeatedly during the extinguishing process. Volunteers reported, “The rescue team attempted to extinguish a 6 kWh battery, but flames behind the metal plate covering kept re-igniting, making firefighting difficult.” It took nearly four hours for the firefighters, comprising 38 volunteers, to bring the blaze under control.
E3/DC stated that they would assist LG Energy in determining the potential causes of the fire. Additionally, in a precautionary measure, E3/DC announced plans to replace all LG Energy battery modules from the same batch, which could affect 77 customers.
According to a technician from LG Energy, the affected home energy storage system battery was part of the RESU series, potentially models 10H or 7H, which have storage capacities of 9.8 or 7 kWh. The LG RESU series home energy storage batteries have gained notoriety due to frequent safety incidents. As early as December 2020, after receiving multiple fire reports that resulted in property damage and injuries, LG Energy issued a voluntary recall notice in the U.S. At that time, the recall only covered the “RESU 10H” model, which had been sold between January 2017 and April 2019, affecting around 10,000 storage units.
In late February 2021, the RESU batteries faced several incidents in Australia, including a fire in Victoria that destroyed an entire house, leading LG’s Australian branch to initiate a battery recall. This recall encompassed various RESU battery module models sold between January 2016 and June 2019.
However, the speed of LG Energy’s battery recalls has raised concerns. As of January 1, 2024, 4,400 batteries from the recall remain unaccounted for. Some users reported waiting nine months for a replacement battery, which was installed beneath the flooring of their master bedroom and had already shown significant swelling. Moreover, some users noted that batteries “fixed” through software updates still caught fire.
Due to the slow recall progress, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) expressed frustration, claiming LG Energy had failed to take effective measures to expedite the recall. Last year, the ACCC required LG Energy to sign a compulsory recall commitment that included significant obligations, such as paying consumers for installation costs and cash bonuses, as well as compensating for higher electricity bills incurred while the solar batteries were offline. As of the start of this year, over 3,000 LG Energy batteries in Australia had yet to be recalled.
The Canberra Times reported that thousands of potential hazards still remain in residents’ homes. A similar situation has unfolded in the UK, where the Office for Product Safety and Standards issued a product recall notice in March 2022 for all LG RESU ESS home batteries due to fire risks from overheating. Following the recent explosion incidents in Germany, the same recall process has been repeated there.
In South Korea, between August 2017 and October 2019, 17 energy storage system fire incidents were also linked to LG Chem’s RESU lithium battery modules. The problematic LG Energy batteries were all home energy storage batteries from the RESU series, produced between 2017 and 2019, with incidents primarily caused by overcharging, thermal runaway, and fires.
Recent incidents in Germany involving LG batteries occurred five years after their installation and were characterized by overcharging and overheating. For an extended period, LG Energy adhered to a technology route based on ternary lithium batteries, which have a lower thermal runaway temperature (only 120-140°C) compared to lithium iron phosphate batteries (250-300°C). Consequently, short circuits or overcharging can trigger chain reactions. The combustion risk of ternary lithium batteries is also higher than that of lithium iron phosphate batteries, which burn more slowly even in thermal runaway situations.
While most ternary lithium batteries have a theoretical lifespan of 5-10 years, current cases indicate that actual lifespans fall short of 10 years, with many experiencing frequent issues after just 3-5 years of use. Public records show that LG Energy only plans to apply lithium iron phosphate batteries to energy storage systems as of 2023, with plans to build a battery factory in Arizona, USA, to produce pouch-type lithium iron phosphate batteries for energy storage systems.
From a policy perspective, many countries are beginning to favor lithium iron phosphate batteries. For instance, new regulations in China for energy storage power stations mandate that storage batteries pass puncture and thermal runaway tests, which lithium iron phosphate naturally meets. The EU plans to phase out ternary batteries by 2030, further promoting the application of lithium iron phosphate batteries. Due to their high safety and longevity, lithium iron phosphate has become the mainstream choice for grid energy storage and home energy storage. For example, Tesla’s Powerwall initially used 18650 ternary batteries but later switched to lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Due to frequent safety incidents, ineffective product recalls, and flaws in safety design, LG Energy, which only began transitioning to lithium iron phosphate batteries in 2023, has already exited the competition among top global energy storage companies. According to InfoLink’s latest report, LG Energy does not appear in the top ten for global energy storage cell shipments for 2024. In terms of overseas market shipments, LG Energy barely ranks ninth.
Nevertheless, during the years when LG Energy was thriving in the global energy storage market, thousands of photovoltaic energy storage systems installed across North America, Europe, and Australia utilized the high-risk RESU energy storage systems. PV Magazine reported in 2017 that LG Energy (then known as LG Chem) once dominated the photovoltaic energy storage market in Germany. As this batch of energy storage batteries approaches their end of life, it poses risks for thousands of households. Furthermore, not only LG-branded energy storage systems utilize these problematic battery modules; many other brands and integrators also incorporate LG Energy batteries. Consequently, any photovoltaic battery systems installed between 2017 and 2020 should exercise increased caution. Given LG Energy’s recall efficiency, Solarquotes commented that this could be an ongoing issue.
