Dominion Energy has set a high bar for the fire safety of battery energy storage systems, but EVLO Energy Storage just took a major step toward clearing it.
EVLO, a wholly owned subsidiary of utility Hydro-Québec, has achieved UL 9540 certification of an augmented version of its EVLOFLEX system, which boasts enhanced fire and safety features that meet and exceed Dominion’s unique safety specifications.
UL 9540 certification recognizes battery energy storage (BESS) safety, reliability, and performance across several phases including design, production, testing, installation, and operation. It requires robust functional safety governance, fire prevention and response preparedness, explosion containment provisions, hazard detection sensitivity, and resistance to cascading failures. The rigorous UL 9540A testing protocol, leading to the UL 9540 certification, was conducted by independent North American certification agencies.
“We are proud of our team’s success in augmenting EVLOFLEX to meet Dominion’s specific safety requirements,” said EVLO chief technology officer Michel Cousineau. “Through targeted adjustments, we’ve further strengthened EVLOFLEX’s safety features. The integration of an external fire panel control, for example, will facilitate regulatory approval process by authorities having jurisdictions. This will benefit both Dominion and future clients seeking for their projects to meet stringent certification standards like NFPA 72.”
EVLOFLEX is EVLO’s fully integrated utility-grade BESS solution, designed to help utilities stabilize grids, control flow, and optimize asset operation. It incorporates fire protection solutions at all levels, employing both active and passive thermal runaway mitigation measures that include a unique approach that goes beyond the NFPA 69 design standards, ensuring passive gas evacuation even during power outages.
Any special requests?
EVLOFLEX first achieved UL 9540 certification in March 2024 and was recently recertified to validate the safety feature upgrades requested by Dominion, which is partnering with EPRI on an energy storage playbook.
For a vertically integrated utility like Dominion, energy storage use cases are plentiful: grid services, resource adequacy, resilience, non-wires alternatives, mobile energy storage during emergency events, and more. But each project is unique, emphasized Martin Rheault, EVLO’s vice president of business development and sales, in a previous interview with Renewable Energy World.
“The key of understanding the requirements from the customer (is) paramount,” he explained. “If you just miss that small angle or that small requirement, you could be in for a super long sales process and just miss it at the end.”
That understanding is particularly crucial when it comes to fire safety, typically the top concern over lithium-ion battery energy storage and a priority for Dominion. The utility is in the process of developing an energy storage operations and maintenance team to expand its internal knowledge pool and respond quickly to incidents.
For BESS developers like Lightshift Energy, which is rolling out small utility-scale projects in Massachusetts and beyond, fire safety starts by looping in the locals, particularly first responders.
“The first thing that we do when we’re developing a site or developing a project is engage the fire department,” explains Rory Jones, cofounder of Lightshift. “We make sure that they understand the fire code and the safety of the system.”
“We perform, in each instance, a hazard mitigation analysis with a third party, just to give extra comfort, Jones adds. “Ultimately, the fire department is our partner in moving a project forward into construction. They’ve already been completely made part and parcel to the project.”
A trio of BESS deployments
The enhanced EVLOFLEX BESS will be deployed across three large-scale BESS projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia, totaling more than 300 MWh in capacity, scheduled to begin commissioning in 2025 and 2026.
The first utility-scale solution has a 5 MWh capacity and will be utilized at a facility microgrid fueled by solar power and battery storage. The microgrid will be used to study how clean technology can help further advance the grid of the future. The second project is a standalone storage system that will enhance local grid reliability and contribute to the utility’s 100% clean energy future goal. At 75 MWh, it will be one of Virginia’s largest standalone projects once the commissioning is completed in 2025. The third is a solar PV project at a major transportation hub with an installed capacity of 225 MWh. When it is put into operation in 2026, it will be the largest battery energy storage project in Virginia.
The projects align with Dominion’s Grid-Transformation Plan to modernize its infrastructure and develop 2,700 MW of energy storage by 2035 while maintaining safe and reliable service. They will also support the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), a landmark legislation driving the state towards 100% clean energy by 2050. The VCEA stands as Virginia’s most ambitious clean energy initiative to date.
EVLO says the enhanced safety features of the EVLOFLEX will also be available in future projects for other EVLO clients, which will undoubtedly prove useful in a booming battery market.
“The projects are getting bigger. The demand is not stopping, it’s just growing,” notices EVLO’s Rheault, who also recognizes a trending need for higher energy density and larger form factors.
“Now, everybody can have a portfolio project. Anybody can claim to develop great projects. And it’s our job to say which one is going to come first and which one is the best fit for our product,” he added.
