CS Energy responds to safety fears over Greenbank Tesla mega battery power station

Massive lithium battery fires around the world have sparked concerns about the construction of a Tesla mega lithium battery power station within walking distance of Logan housing estates.

A Tesla mega lithium battery power station, capable of powering 66,000 homes in peak times, has come under fire for being built within walking distance of a large Logan housing estate.

Queensland government’s CS Energy and electricity provider Powerlink Australia are constructing the large-scale Tesla electric battery bank in Greenbank.

When completed next year it would deliver 200mW and store 400mW hours of energy – enough to run 66,000 homes for two hours in the evening peak before needing to recharge.

The Greenbank site. Pictures; CS Energy

The state government launched the big battery project on Powerlink-owned land as part of the state’s “battery blitz” after an explosion at the Callide coal generator in 2021 left thousands of homes without power.

It is being built next to the Greenbank Electricity Substation, which was key to the existing electricity network and connected to the southeast Queensland power grid.

The Greenbank mega battery will be ready for use and completed by 2025. Picture: Seam Spatial

But Greenbank residents have called for stricter safety measures and escape routes in and around the site after massive battery fires at similar plants in Vtoria and around the world.

In 2021, a massive fire broke out at the country’s largest Tesla mega battery site at Moorabool, near Geelong, when a 13 tonne lithium battery in a shipping container exploded.

It took more than 30 fire trucks and support vehicles and about 150 firefighters two days to stop the fire and contain it from spreading to nearby batteries.

Greenbank resident and chairman of the New Beith Power Liaison Group, Bruce Fraser, said he had “significant concerns” over safety protocols and environmental risks at Greenbank following the Moorabool fire.

He said residents were worried explosive fires from the Greenbank battery site would spread to nearby properties and potentially release of toxic gases such as hydrogen fluoride.

The NBBC Power Liaison Group estimated 7000 properties in the Greenbank area and wildlife at nearby Lavelle Lagoon and Spring Mountain Reserve could be affected if there was a major fire.

The state-of-the-art Greenbank project would use lithium iron phosphate, also known as lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) or LiFePO4 batteries, which CS Energy said were the safest lithium batteries available.

CS Energy said megapack lithium battery fires were extremely rare and the gases from such fires were not more dangerous than a structural fire.

The Greenbank battery links into the state’s powergrid and is within walking distance to residences. Picture: Powerlink

Despite two meetings between the residents and the battery stakeholders, Mr Fraser said there had been no real resolution.

“Queenslanders are not ready to have such lithium potential bombs so close to residential areas, with some estates still not having adequate escape plans – especially here in Greenbank near the substation which has a 200 mW 400 MWh system being built,” he said.

“Queensland Fire and Rescue and Queensland Health have little facilities or evacuation routes should a Moorabool Cascade fire be repeated here over the next 30 years.

“There are 25,000 residents within a 4km radius of the potential lithium battery site.

“All Queenslanders must insist that our government companies including Clean Co, CS Energy and Powerlink act before the site is activated to ensure 100 per cent the safety of all residents, at whatever cost.”

Mr Fraser said mega battery banks were also being built within 10km of residential estates at Ipswich, Springfield, Townsville, Rockhampton and in country towns.

The first large documented Battery Energy Storage System fire in Queensland was at Griffith University in March 2020, with other fires at Townsville. There were no injuries.

A third Tesla battery energy storage system fire was 500m from the nearest house and burned for days at Bouldercombe, south of Rockhampton, in September last year.

CS Energy said the project aimed to ensure a stronger source of reliable energy for all Queenslanders.

It said noise from massive cooling fans would be dampened by vegetation and acoustic barriers screening the battery from the nearby Pub Lane and a road.

“Safety is CS Energy’s first priority in everything that we do,” a spokesman said.

“The Greenbank Substation was chosen as the location for the battery because the site already has existing major transmission infrastructure and is a strategic location on Powerlink’s transmission network.

“The Greenbank Battery is CS Energy’s second battery project. We are again working with Tesla because we believe they set the industry benchmark for energy storage product design and safety.

Work at the Greenbank site will be completed by 2025. Picture: Powerlink

“The Tesla megapack 2XL units that will be installed at Greenbank are one of the safest battery storage products of their kind and the batteries undergo extensive fire testing and include integrated safety systems specialised monitoring software and 24/7 support.

“Testing shows that if a fire occurs, megapack safety systems can control and contain a fire within a megapack unit.

“Testing also shows that the resulting gases from a megapack fire would be similar to those released from a typical structure fire of a building or other infrastructure.”

The Greenbank battery project is the first of its kind for allowing Powerlink to uphold the electricity system strength and security in times of blackouts and brown outs and is designed to ensure a more reliable electricity supply to the Gold Coast, Logan and south Brisbane areas.

Originally published as CS Energy responds to safety fears over Greenbank Tesla mega battery power station